Limit Breaker
by Anonymaton
Summary: A young, weak Saiyan is banished from his world in secret by his family, unknowingly escaping the destruction of Planet Vegeta. After crash-landing on a strange, undiscovered world, this young Saiyan discovers strange, malevolent creatures, strange abilities of the local intelligence species, and becomes more powerful than he ever thought possible
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings all. Now, for those who discovered this through my main page and not through browsing, you may be asking the followings question: "Why isn't Anonymaton uploading A Very Bad Idea, or Venom: Resurgence chapters?"**

 **Creativity: Trust me, we're working on them. We already have two chapters for Bad Idea and Resurgence completed (Still early January as of this writing)**

 **Author: Indeed! As for your question, this is a specific type of story I like to call an "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" story. A phenomenon of which a story idea floats into your head and starts to bounce around, marinating in creativity and consideration until you can't handle it anymore and need to get it out of your system.**

 **Creativity: Didn't take too long to build to critical mass in this instance. Actually, Resurgence is sort of in this same vein, though to a lesser extent since we literally did this story before.**

 **Author: Also, a quick plug for the Poll I have up for the story that I will be working on primarily after A Very Bad Idea concludes. For those of you who don't know, I'm wrapping up my primary project in Spring this year, and I want feedback on what story I should do next (Aside from this one, though there will be some reference to it in a different story, tied in with something else, and oh my god I've gone cross-eyed). But anyway, please read the stories (They have Sampling in the name) and cast your vote.**

 **Alright, enough with the prattling. Let us present the tentative chapter one of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

 _Age 737, two weeks before the destruction of planet Vegeta…_

Alphalott, proud member of the Saiyan Royal Guard was in a foul mood. This was the last straw. He'd put up with that infernal excuse for a Saiyan far too long and it was high time he washed his and his family's hands of the whole mess.

Alphalott and his family were all high-class warriors among the Saiyan race and had served their king proudly for decades. But then, there were complications. Complications that bore the name Gula. Gula was his youngest son and had made life difficult for his family the moment he'd been born. Unlike the rest of his family, who had all been born with high power-levels, Gula had been born with not just a low power-level, but the lowest power-level in recorded Saiyan history! Alphalott had immediately hidden all record of Gula's existence from the rest of the Saiyans, deciding that he would train Gula himself to be a high-class warrior like the rest of his family.

Unfortunately, the training didn't exactly pan out. Even with the Saiyan zenkai boost, his growth was absolutely pitiful! He was ten years old now, and his power was only marginally better than an adolescent low-class warrior! And as if that wasn't enough, the exact second he started to show some promise, Gula almost killed his eldest sibling and risked revealing that Alphalott had lied to king Vegeta!

Alphalott had ordered his eldest son, Aikon, to spar with Gula to try and force Gula to overcome his immense shortcomings, and it apparently worked a little too well. Gula had apparently been all but beaten, but when Aikon went for the final blow, Gula struck back with sudden power and ferocity that left Aikon with more broken bones than not, a severe concussion and possible permanent heart damage! Of course, this was on the eve of Aikon being sent out for another planet-conquering mission, which he now couldn't make due to his injuries. This meant that Alphalott would have to report to king Vegeta that Aikon's mission would have to be delayed due to him still recovering from a training exercise gone wrong, which would lead to the king investigating just what had happened. Normally, Aikon would just say that his middle child, Aspera had done this, but she was already off-world on a conquering of her own, and Alphalott didn't have the time to come up with a convincing lie. Either he got rid of Gula or king Vegeta would discover his deception and likely execute him.

He found Gula sitting in his 'room'. The boy had the characteristic black hair (long, but rather subdued relative to other Saiyans) and eyes of the Saiyan race, but was a bit thin, relative to other Saiyans his age. He certainly had more scars than them. He was wearing a traditional Saiyan outfit, colored black and green, with yellow pauldrons. His tail was flicking in a way that suggested agitation. Alphalott could see little remorse in his eyes for what happened to Aikon. Normally, Alphalott wouldn't mind, but not when his position (not to mention his life) were on the line.

Gula's room was sparse, only containing a bed and training equipment so the only thing he could do to alleviate his boredom was get stronger. Not that it mattered now. Over a decade invested in bringing this miserable excuse for a Saiyan up to proper standards was wasted when he should have just jettisoned the liability off planet like the rest of the low-class children. Maybe he'd have come home a conqueror of a planet, or he'd have ended up dead. Both options were happy ones to him. But no, he'd let his pride get the better of him and how he was standing on a razor-thin wire over a boiling lake.

Gula didn't have any time to react before Alphalott delivered a swift open-handed chop to the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. After making sure he was securely hidden under a cloak, he waited until night fell and flew the prone form of his youngest to the nearest launch site and placed him in a stasis pod. It was a newer model of Saiyan pod that put the passenger in suspended animation while in flight to the destination. Perhaps it was an act of kindness, maybe a lack of patience that he chose this pod, but it didn't matter. He placed his unconscious son inside and began setting a destination. He didn't want this pod found by anyone within Frieza's empire, as that would just lead to it getting traced back to him. After finding a planet outside of Frieza's current reach, he sealed the pod and sent it on it's way. Based on his guess, Alphalott guess that the pod would probably take a decade, bare minimum to reach the planet he'd programmed in. The pod probably had enough fuel to make it there, but whether it made it or not, it wouldn't be coming back.

"Goodbye and good riddance…" Alphalott muttered as he went to return home, only to find other members of the Saiyan Royal Guard at his house. As he stepped inside, he felt his stomach drop as he laid eyes on King Vegeta.

"Good evening, Alphalott. Now, may I ask what you were doing at the launch pads?" the king asked in a well-mannered tone, despite the vicious, angry glint in his eye. Needless to say, Alphalott was sentenced to prison by the king after extracting the truth from him. His stay in prison didn't last much longer, as he was pardoned to assist in battle against Frieza, only to find this but a death sentence, as the Saiyans, along with their planet, were wiped from existence by Frieza.

* * *

 _Many, many years later, just beyond the borders of Frieza's shrinking empire…_

A spherical pod puttered through space, on the verge of losing power. Fuel had run out some time ago, but power still had yet to expire. The pod eventually drifted close enough to a planet with a fractured moon that gravity took over and the pod began to accelerate towards the planet. After a few minutes spent plummeting through the atmosphere, the pod crashed into a forest at the base of a mountain range. The pod sputtered and creaked before it began to power down. Within, the occupant began to stir. Eventually, Gula mustered the strength to free himself from the pod and stumble away. All of his joints were incredibly stiff and popped at the slightest movement.

"Ugh, what happened? Last thing I remember is father coming into my room and then… why am I in a forest?"

As the haze in his body and mind cleared, Gula could see his surroundings better. It was night-time wherever he was, with the moon hanging in the air. Immediately, Gula steeled himself for the Oozaru transformation, but it didn't come. Then he noticed that the moon was broken into pieces, probably messing with blutz-wave emission. On the one hand, he wouldn't have to actively keep track of when the moon cycles. On the other, that was one extremely useful ability he didn't have access to. His father never taught him the trick to creating a workable facsimile to induce the transformation.

Immediately, Gula's mood turned sour at the thought of his family. Even by Saiyan standards, it was harsh. Added to that, it wasn't exactly puzzling as to what had happened to him. His father had jetted him off-planet after he put Aikon in a body cast with one hit. He wasn't even sure how it happened. It had been going like every other 'training session' his father put him through, with one or both of his siblings utterly thrashing him until he couldn't stay on his feet, at which point they would lock him in his room and let zenkai take care of the rest. However, in the almost decade that he'd been undergoing this 'training regimen' his power level wasn't up to what it should be, at least according to his father. But then, during his latest fight with Aikon, when he was beaten to a pulp on his hands and knees, he suddenly felt a rush of energy through his body and he threw a surprise punch at Aikon which had knocked him out, while leaving him wounded beyond belief!

He'd immediately been locked up in his room until his father arrived. Gula had expected either a harsh 'scolding' for this, or possibly praise (yeah, right) for beating his elder brother for the first time. But instead, he'd been literally thrown off of the planet!

"GAHHHH!" Gula shouted before launching a red Ki blast at a nearby tree, blowing it to smithereens! After a few deep breaths, Gula started looking around. Priorities. He didn't know how long he'd been in that pod, but it had been for a while and he was hungry beyond belief. He had plenty of wood for a fire, so he just needed to find something to eat. It was a forest, and he could fly, thus reducing the chances that he'd spook any game. He'd picked that little trick up pretty quickly, since he'd dealt with one or multiple members of his family flying overhead, raining blasts down upon him to try and force some strength out of him.

Growling, he pushed the thoughts of his family aside. Survival first, angry brooding later.

His body lifted off the ground and he began floating through the trees, searching for any local wildlife. It wasn't long before he saw something large lumbering through the trees. It was covered in brown fur and looked like a predator, with a long nose and massive clawed paws. One Ki blast later, and he was hauling his kill back to the crash site. After grabbing enough wood for a bon-fire, he skinned the animal and stuck it over a spit to roast before checking the pod to see if it had any emergency supplies. Inside he found the bare essentials, containing one canteen of water, some rehydratable food and a knife. So, basically nothing. Gula wasn't sure whether or not to blame his father or Saiyans in general.

By now, he could smell the meat getting close to ready and after removing it from the fire, began to eat it with Saiyan gusto, leaving nothing but a pile of bones left.

"Okay, food is taken care of, now where am I sleeping tonight?" Gula muttered. For a moment, he considered sleeping in the pod, but immediately discounted that. No way was he getting back in that pod. Although that being said, he wasn't exactly fond of the idea of just leaving it out in the open. Assuming there was intelligent life on this planet, he didn't want to leave it out for them to just happen upon it, and he had a feeling that would only lead to trouble. After some thought, he picked up the pod and flew it off to the base of the mountain before searching for any caves or crevices he could put the pod in. Eventually, he found a small cave, only a few feet deep and large enough to fit the pod inside. He shoved it into the cave and flew a ways back before launching a blast several feet above the cave, causing it to collapse and bury the pod under a few tons of rock. With that cleared up, he flew back to his campsite to retrieve his minimalist survival kit and flew further up the mountain, searching for yet another cave to bed down in. He found one that looked a decent size and slipped inside. It wasn't too cold inside, though he figured he'd want to find something to sleep on other than rocks as soon as he could. As he explored his surroundings a bit more, he accidentally bumped something with the massive pauldrons on his uniform.

"Alright, these are going. Seriously, why do we even have these?" Gula muttered to himself before removing the armor and tearing off the pauldrons before pulling it back on. He wanted to settle in for the night, but he just couldn't get comfortable. It certainly didn't help when the local wildlife started howling. Gula had been trying to sleep for about fifteen minutes, but what sounded like a pack of animals further down the mountain would just not. Shut. Up.

"Alright, that's it. I am not dealing with this anymore." Gula growled before leaping to his feet and rocketing out the cave entrance and speeding down the mountainside! However, the source of the noise wasn't quite what he was expecting.

"You definitely don't look like locals…" Gula muttered as he looked down at the pack he'd come gunning down the mountain to murder. It looked like a pack of part-human part-canine shadow monsters, with large bone plates and spikes on their bodies, particularly emphasized by masks of some kind, a sort of red glow coming from inside their mouths and red-rimmed yellow eyes. They appeared capable of bipedal motion, but they primarily walked on all fours. And they were big, with each one standing a bare minimum of 6.5 feet tall.

It wasn't too long before the pack became aware of Gula's presence and they started snarling at him and swiping. Gula could tell by their body language that they were aggressive by nature.

"So, automatically aggressive. Good to know. Wonder if they feel fear…" Gula mused before a red aura erupted around him and he began to blast the pack to high heaven! Unfortunately, while he was now left with a blissfully quiet night, he wasn't able to find out anything else about the emotional range of the creatures. Oh well. Maybe next time. He returned to the cave and settled in for the night, using the torn-off pauldrons as a makeshift pillow. Better for his neck than just rocks, he thought.

* * *

 _Several days later…_

Gula had quickly established a routine of hunting for food during sunrise and sunset while trying to make the cave he currently inhabited more comfortable to live in. Thus far, that had involved experimenting with various natural materials to make a more comfortable bed, setting up a fire-pit near the back of the cave (He also figured out positioning through much trial and error), as well as searching for any signs of intelligent life near the forest. He hadn't happened across anything that looked like a settlement yet. However, he had come across a few of those weird shadow-creatures. It appeared they were not confined to just lupine forms, but also avian, feline and a whole host of others. He hadn't seen many varieties, but it was definitely something worth interest. Notably, one that looked remarkably similar to the creature he'd made a meal of on his first night on this rock. That had piqued his interest. It also proved to be much more resilient than the canine-creatures he'd decimated. He'd spent some time observing them, until they realized he was there and tried to attack him, much to their severe misfortune. He'd seen them interacting with other animals, occasionally scuffling with them, but never eat. Ever. Which was rather unsettling to him.

Gula had started to make a game out of fighting them, setting small challenges for himself, such as only using his fists or feet, or only using Ki blasts, or not allowing himself to fly when he encountered avian variations of these creatures.

Currently, he'd just dispatched a small group of shadow-creatures that looked like some sort of boar. He rolled his shoulders, feeling a satisfying pop before he took off flying again. This was going to be his longest flight yet. He was hoping to finally find something approaching a functioning civilization.

He'd searched around one side of the mountains for a few miles but hadn't happened across anything. Hopefully, the other side of the mountains would prove more fruitful. And it appeared they would, as he came across a proper pathway! He began flying above it, tracing it through the woods until he eventually reached a settlement!

Or at least the remains of one. And based on the damage, scattered weapons and arrows, as well as the general unnerving vibe of the place told Gula that this settlement did not have a happy ending.

Regardless, he set about exploring, searching for anything useful he could bring back to his cave. He eventually found a few blankets that had miraculously survived the elements rather well (Even if they were looking a bit ratty), a few manual tools (Though he doubted how much he'd need them, with his strength) but sadly no food items. He was starting to want something other than the small pool of meat he could get from the forest. He'd discovered a few lakes that covered water, as well as an abundance of fish, but he didn't have a good way to carry a few dozen at a time, and he didn't feel like hauling two or three in one trip, then coming back for more. That was just wasted energy, though it could possibly be a good workout.

He was all set to leave and head back to the mountain when the faintest hint of a voice reached his ears. He immediately flew into the forest and carefully deposited his findings behind a tree before he began to fly stealthily through the trees to try and locate the source of the voice, if that was what he heard.

Eventually, he tracked down the source of the voice to two beings that looked similar to Saiyans or the Ginyu Force's Recoome. While the first was short and scrawny, the second actually reminded Gula a lot of the few images he'd seen of Recoome. He was enormous, probably six feet, four inches. He had short hair and had a rectangular head, as well as enormous muscles. Both men were wearing clothes that had seen plenty of wear and tear. They also carried rather basic looking weaponry. The smaller one had what looked like a machete and a pistol, while the larger had rather complicated, but no less worn-out looking battle-axe.

"Remind me why the leader sent us out here again?" The large one asked in a disgruntled tone.

"Technically, we're supposed to be on patrol for anyone to rob. In reality, it's because you couldn't keep your mouth shut and the leader wanted you out of her hair for a few hours, and I got lumped in because I'm the only one who can tolerate you, as well as make sure you at least try to follow orders. Seriously, how you've not been gutted by the leader is beyond me." The small one responded.

Plus points: Gula could communicate with them. Also plus points: there was intelligent life on this planet. On the downside, given that they were still using such crude weaponry, the state of disrepair the fact that they were apparently not in touch with their Ki (As far as he could tell), they hadn't developed that much as a species so far in terms of technology. Although, this might not be a good comparison. Based on the conversation he'd just heard, it sounded likely that these two were probably from some form of bandit group or other form of organized crime, and their state of dress, coupled with their current weaponry lent more credence to that possibility.

If he had clothes that made him look more like a local, he'd try getting directions from them. As it is though, with his Saiyan armor and tail, he kind of doubted that they would be so accommodating. Not that he was worried about being forced to fight them. A couple of Ki blasts or a good punch and kick and they would be out cold. However, he didn't feel like attracting attention. Especially if Frieza or someone affiliated with him came here and found out about him. That would mean a one-way trip back to planet Vegeta, which he did not want in the slightest. Of course, this was all assuming that Frieza or one of his subordinates didn't decide to kill him on sight.

"What about that 'falling star' that everyone was talking about? Didn't the leader want to investigate it? If it's something not from Remnant, maybe it'd by valuable." The big one mentioned. Gula froze.

"With all the Grimm attacks that have been happening recently, do you really think it's a good idea to mount an expedition around the mountain to see if we can find something that fell from space? Though I did hear a few rumors that the leader was going to go investigate by herself soon. Probably not true, though. Again, with all the Grimm attacks that happened recently, it's not a good idea to go out on your own." The small one responded.

Gula's thoughts began racing, as well as being very glad that he had opted to bury the pod under a few tons of rock. Hopefully they wouldn't be investigating, but he didn't want to take chances. He had to hide all evidence of his presence. After flying back to where he'd hidden his findings, he recollected them and flew a roundabout route to avoid the two men and flew back to the mountain with record speed, just edging the sound barrier. He didn't want to set off an avalanche after all. After making sure his findings were secure in his cave, he flew down to his landing site and completely dismantled his roasting spit before clearing away all evidence of a fire pit. He then proceeded to haul all the bones from his meals to the lake and toss them in. Afterwards, he did another check to make sure that he had disposed of what evidence he could. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do about the crater, nor anything about how suspiciously empty it was. However, he severely doubted that anyone would be able to find the pod. He just hoped that its absence wouldn't keep any potential investigators hanging around. It would make undetected survival much harder. As if having to get rid of his main means of preparing food wasn't annoying enough.

Deciding he'd have to eat light that night, Gula flew over to the lake and went for a dive before retrieving four fish, which he was holding by the tails. After killing them with a mere flick of his fingers, he flew back to his cave and set about cleaning them as best he could before letting them cook on a flat stone. He devoured the fish within minutes and still felt a bit hungry. However, he was also feeling pretty tired, so he instead rolled out his newly acquired bedding and went to sleep.

Or at least that's what would have happened, except for the fact that another pack of those shadow creatures started making noise again. Gula's eyes snapped open. On top of not having a full meal, he was now being kept awake by those blasted things! He slowly stood up and rolled his shoulders before stalking to the cave entrance and looking for the offenders. However, the howls soon devolved to snarls and roars of fighting. This caught Gula's attention. The shadow creatures typically didn't fight amongst themselves or other wildlife. In fact, the only things they did deliberately go after were him, so far. Sneaking out of the cave, he stealthily flew down the mountain, making sure to keep behind rocky outcroppings wherever possible. Eventually he made it down to the bottom and saw someone fighting the shadow creatures with surprising ease! Gula didn't have a point of reference for the rest of this rock's residents, so he couldn't say how good they were, but this one seemed pretty good. The fighter was dressed in red and black and wore a helmet reminiscent of the shadow creatures' masks. Their weapon of choice was a straight, single-edged red sword. Soon enough, all the shadow creatures were dispatched, and the figure moved away from the mountain, heading into the forest. Gula waited until they were further in and floated after them, though he could hazard a guess as to where they were going.

Sure enough, they went to the crash-site. As they began investigating, Gula watched from further into the forest. What should he do?! Well the one thing he had to do above all else was not get caught. And should he get caught, well… well, he'd blow up that bridge when he came to it. Hopefully it wouldn't get messy.

As he peered closer at whoever this mysterious stranger was, he got a better look at the sword they carried. It was in much better condition than the weapons those two men had been carrying earlier. Additionally, he could see that there was a sort of multi-colored stripe on one side of the sheathe. He wondered what sort of function that served.

After a few agonizingly long minutes, the figure eventually left the crater and drew their sword, slashing the air. Much to Gula's surprise, the air distorted as a black and red breach appeared out of thin air! The figure walked through it and the strange energy vanished. Gula let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and flew back up to his cave before trying to fall asleep. It didn't come easy though. He was still on edge from nearly being discovered. And by the strange phenomenon he'd seen. He hadn't heard of an ability like that within Frieza's empire before, and if the other inhabitants sported this ability, it probably wouldn't be long before Frieza set his eyes on this planet for annexation or destruction. Neither was good for him, not to mention the residents.

Well, that all assumed that Frieza even knew of this planet. It could very well be beyond the current scope of his empire. He just hoped that it stayed that way. He could barely handle taking on other Saiyans for extended fights, and Frieza was on a whole other level. Actually, it was probably several levels.

Shuddering at the thought, Gula checked again to make sure he was alone, then flew back up to his cave and hunkered down for the night. Sleep didn't come easy, but once it did, he was out like a light.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in a snow-swept military base…_

A man dressed in a sharp, white double-breasted tailcoat walked down a hallway, passing other military personnel who looked at him with a hint of awe and admiration. The man looked to be in his mid forties, with black hair with a few gray streaks and a small strip of silver above his right eyebrow. He stepped into what appeared to be a war-room with a holographic display of a large landmass, with a circle surrounding a large mountain range.

"General Ironwood, sir!" One of the few people standing in the room announced respectfully. The General stepped up to the hologram and took a good look at it.

"Any word from Mistral's council regarding the investigation?" Ironwood asked one of the lieutenants.

"There's recently been an uptake in Grimm activity in the wilds around the kingdom has made it difficult to mount a proper investigation. They tried turning to Vale, but they're also stretched thin. Additionally, Mistral feels that we have better equipment for the job." The lieutenant replied smartly. Ironwood nodded.

"They aren't wrong. How long until we can get a team headed there on a Bullhead?" Ironwood asked.

"Well, accounting for the uptake in Grimm activity, we have a team on the Bullhead in about an hour, unless you think we should send some Specialists for extra security." Another Lieutenant responded. Ironwood pondered it for a moment.

"Send two as a precaution, and make sure you send the best equipment you can." Ironwood ordered before leaving the war-room. He felt uneasy about that meteorite that had crashed in Mistral. And on top of it all, the Grimm seemed to have gotten much more active in the short time preceding the impact. Especially since Remnant didn't get meteorites striking it very often.

Ironwood shook his head. He was probably just being paranoid, but he didn't want to take chances. Remnant had enough problems without new ones arriving from outer space.

 **Alright, and that's this first chapter done! The rest will come out when it comes out.**

 **Creativity: I'm surprised this is happening, considering you typically want significant stakes to a story, and having a Saiyan of any kind sort of defeats that purpose.**

 **Author: Maybe, but I've taken a couple of steps in that regard. Number one, Super Saiyan will not feature until much, MUCH later. Number two, I made Gula literally the weakest Saiyan born in their recorded history, which is for more reasons than just making it so he doesn't disrupt the story completely. Number 3, this story is more of a character piece than it is an action story, though action will feature because RWBY and Dragon Ball. I'm just… Saiyan…**

…

 **I am so sorry.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, well this story got popular REAL fast!**

 **Creativity: Yeah, how did that happen?**

 **Author: More active fanbase? Maybe this story isn't as "out there" as some of my other work? Hey, anyone mind explaining this to us? That'd be great.**

 **Anyway, here we are with another chapter of Limit Breaker! I feel that this one's going to be a bit funnier than the usual, though I did try to make it a bit light-hearted. Gula may be a Saiyan, but he is still a 10-year-old.**

 **Creativity: Dear god, the thought of a 10-year-old with planet conquering powers is more terrifying than I thought until now.**

 **Author: You're thinking about it too much.**

 **Also, I have a quick question. After seeing Broly with the animal pelt he wears around his waist (For the record, I know it's his best friend's ear) I kind of like the look. And since Gula's obviously doing his fair share of hunting, well… Thoughts? I'm thinking wolf or bear pelt. Send me your thoughts on that addition to the outfit!**

 **Alright, enough yammering! Chapter 2 incoming!**

* * *

 _Two years since crash landing…_

"Where you find all this fish and meat is beyond me, kid! Seriously, your parents must have been crazy game-hunters for you to be this good at it!"

Gula shrugged his shoulders, trying to act modest to the butcher he had come to collect from.

"It's no big deal. So, I get two of the pelts, plus my usual share of meat, right?" Gula asked. He'd struck a deal with this particular butcher; he'd bring him game and instead of accepting money, he'd get a share of the meat, as well as pelts. Afterwards, he'd either sell the pelts to someone who could treat them, so they wouldn't rot, or pay for the treatment so that he could keep them. He had a amassed a decent collection of them back at his cave home over the last two years that he'd spent on this planet, which he had learned was called Remnant by the locals.

He'd discovered this village by accident a year-and-a-half ago, after he had gotten carried away fighting a particularly large avian shadow creature, which had ended up leaving his Saiyan-suit in tatters. When he noticed the village, and more importantly the smell of food, he entered the village where he met the local butcher and started talking with him. The butcher was a large, heavyset man with buff arms and scars dotting his hands. He also had a pair of curled antlers coming out of his forehead, which Gula had troubling fighting the impulse to ask about. Then he'd noticed a few of the villagers had other animal appendages like tails or ears, and he'd been much relieved that he'd be able to pass as a local much more easily. Of course, the butcher was shocked to hear that such a young boy had been surviving out in the wilderness for so long and gave his condolences about the boy's parents (Though Gula had never explicitly mentioned they were dead. They were, but that wasn't the point) and also was appalled by the state of Gula's clothes, and treated him to a new set of clothes, as well as offering him a place in the village. Gula politely declined but did mention he was very good at hunting and that in exchange for his share of meat and pelts, he'd bring game to the butcher. He'd soon after learned that the butcher's name was Ross and an easy friendship began between them.

Soon, he knew most of the shop-owners in the village on a first-name basis and was starting to learn the names of a few others in town. Most of the parents in the village looked at him sympathetically, but also with apprehension. Seeing Gula coming into town with several animal carcasses on his back with seemingly little to no strain was a little disconcerting to them. The local kids often avoided him and would move their games elsewhere when he arrived. Gula could sort of understand why. To the parents, he was a feral mountain child who usually arrived in the village carrying dead animals for the butcher, or for some other utilitarian purpose. His appearance had become a bit more wild as the two years went by, with him putting on a bit more muscle, collecting a small assortment of scars on his arms, and his hair becoming a bit more unkempt. It never grew any longer, but it was less maintained.

Plus, he was many times stronger than the other kids, and most of the adults. The weight he usually lugged into town when he visited, coupled with the fact that the one time he'd helped with the construction of a house, in which he bare-handed shoved the wooden posts for the foundation into the ground made the adults wary of him. Gula didn't mind though. As it was, he and the town had a mutually beneficial relationship and that was enough.

Speaking of, Gula also needed to get new clothes. His old ones were getting a bit small and worn out.

After collecting the meat and pelts, he went down to the clothing shop, run by a kind woman named Verde. She was also one of the villagers with animal traits, what Remnant's people called Faunus. Verde's animal trait was a pair of wolf ears on her head. Verde had brown hair and green eyes, and typically wore tan and brown robes. Her skin was slightly tanned and weather-beaten.

"Are my new clothes ready?" Gula asked. Verde smiled and reached behind the counter before removing his new clothes.

They consisted of an ash-colored sleeveless tunic with a blue long-sleeved undershirt, with baggy gray pants, all tied together with a forest-green cloth belt.

"All here. You sure you don't want another outfit? You wouldn't have to wash it as often." Verde asked in a light tone that suggested they'd had this conversation before.

"This is fine for now. If I feel like a change, you'll be the first to know." Gula responded with a slight smirk before tucking the outfit into its own bag and waved goodbye before going to drop off the pelts he had acquired from Ross at the tanner to prepare them. He also picked up a bear pelt from the tanner, named Bart, in exchange for a cut of the meat he'd got from Ross. It was a small cut, serving to discount the amount of Lien he needed to buy the pelt, but it was enough. He had more than enough for a few days.

Once he was far enough away from the town, Gula took to the skies and flew back to the mountain. The journey only took him about twenty minutes at speed. It used to take him a couple of hours when he first started making the trip, but the last two years had proven to toughen him up quite a bit. He knew that he was still weak by Saiyan standards, but as far as he could tell, he'd had made much more growth in a two-year time-frame that he had previous done in five, and without relying on zenkai to boot!

Soon enough, Gula reached his cave. It had changed a bit since he had moved in. He'd learned to use his Ki to carefully sculpt the room, sanding down the rough edges and making a bit more space, freeing up room for him to set up a rather comfortable layout.

The cave had been shaped to easily direct smoke from his firepit (located at the back of the cave) out of the cave and away from where people (just him. No one else even knew about this cave) would be sitting. In the driest corner of the cave, he'd piled up the furs and pelts he'd accumulated over the last year-and-a-half into a warm and comfortable bedding. Additionally, he piled up the furs he didn't need on the opposite side of the cave, since the amount he needed/wanted varied based on season and temperature. The winter cold didn't bother him that much, but he still dressed for it and piled furs and blankets accordingly.

Another thing he'd done was acquire a large waterproof dear skin that he anchored over the cave entrance to keep rain and snow out. He'd discovered the need for something like that very quickly.

Finally, he'd discovered a second cave not too far away, which was also bone-dry that he'd converted into a store-room. He kept all his excess non-perishable items there that he didn't want in his cave, which mainly consisted of canned food that he occasionally bought, making it more of an off-site pantry. He would eventually start bringing the occasional fur or pelt, but only once he was sure that it was going to stay dry in there. He didn't want to show up for provisions or extra pelts and find everything rusted and/or rotten. He'd already discovered the need for that sort of environment when he tried using a bear pelt to cover the entrance of his cave, which was followed be a three whole days of solid rain, which left the pelt not only smelling very unpleasant, but rotting so badly he blasted it off the mountain and had to deal with the rotten stench floating around the cave for two days. He'd spent the night in the reserves cave before it became the reserves cave, the smell was so bad.

He'd also used his Ki to excavate a small cavity in the ground as a fire pit. He also had purchased a pot from the village and had a setup that allowed him to hang it over the firepit. He still didn't know how to cook in any method other than just putting the meat in the fire until it was cooked through however, and after two years, it was starting to get a bit old. He'd experimented with trying to cook with the pot, as well as trying to change up what he hunted for, but he was still starting to get sick of the same food, day in and day out.

After spearing several large chunks of meat on long sticks, he set them over the fire and slowly turned it, waiting for them to cook. As he waited, he started to fidget with a loose pebble. He normally wasn't very fidgety, but it had been happening more and more recently, and he was starting to realize why.

After two years living on the same mountain, a year-and-a-half of which was spent going back and forth between said mountain and a village on the other side of the mountain, he was getting really bored. And Saiyans did not handle boredom very well. Additionally, his only form of entertainment, fighting the shadow creatures, or 'Grimm' as he had been informed they were called, was starting to get old as well. Of course, it wasn't helped that their numbers had gone down.

Seemingly having finally realized that they stood absolutely no chance against him, the Grimm appeared to have begun to actively avoid the territory he typically patrolled when he was out hunting, or just out for an airborne stroll. On one hand, it was nice that he could simply go out and not have to deal with the occasional pest swatting at him. On the other, things were just getting a bit too quiet. Besides, fighting those things with the special conditions he imposed on himself had been good training, making him a good deal stronger than he'd been when he landed here.

Damn Saiyan instincts, he wanted a proper fight.

That was something Gula had been grappling with for a while. Despite his… well… less-than-stellar opinion of Saiyans as a whole, stemming from his upbringing, he was still a Saiyan. And setting aside what they had done in the name of Frieza and King Cold before him, Saiyans had one mission engraved into their brains. To fight and get stronger, for the purpose of fighting more. The zenkai was literally a genetic expression of that drive. Despite his misgivings about it, that drive existed in him and he'd been acting on it ever since he got here.

On the plus side, now that he was doing it by himself, for himself, it was actually working. He was actually feeling substantial growth in his strength and reflexes. Of course, he wanted to avoid thinking about that as well, since it felt like he was giving his father credit.

The smell of the cooked meat broke him out of his musings and he removed the first of the large sticks and began to tear off the meat with gusto.

After finishing the first one, he grabbed the next one and stripped it clean. Soon, he had polished off every one of the giant shish kabobs and yawned before checking outside to see that the sun was just dipping below the horizon. The mood struck him to watch the sunset, so he flew up the mountain and found a good cliff to sit on. As he watched the sun, his mind turned to his issue of boredom. Since the Grimm were now actively avoiding him, he didn't have access to his usual training dummies. Additionally, he didn't feel like punching or blowing up the trees in the forest, since that would just come across as a waste. Plus, they couldn't hit back. Even if the Grimm wouldn't be able to cause him any meaningful damage if they did hit him, the fact that they tried was good training in and of itself. Of course, the solution would be to just go and find more Grimm, but that sounded like it would get old real quick. None of the villagers would be able to give him so much as a bruise, let alone a decent fight, plus that would probably make him less than welcome there. He'd grown fond of the village and the people in it, despite the majority being rather apprehensive about him.

Eventually, his thoughts turned to when he had crashed on Remnant two years ago. More specifically, to the people he had seen investigating the crash site. Of course, there was that one person who had the weird sword and could create portals, but there had been a group that had shown up a few days afterwards. He'd hidden on the other side of the mountain until they left, which took longer than he'd hoped. After the first two days, he half-considered just blasting them to high hell so he could go back to his cave and not have to worry about them but refrained because that would just draw attention that he didn't want. Plus, impulsive murder sprees were not something he enjoyed, contrary to many other Saiyans. However, he did remember the group rather well. They had arrived in some sort of ship that had two wings with engines on the ends and had proceeded to use a bunch of strange equipment around the crash site. He experienced a moment of panic when they started poking around where he had hidden the pod he arrived in, but they didn't seem to find anything. Most of the group didn't look very suited to fighting, but there were what Gula assumed to be standard-issue soldiers, based on the identical uniforms, equipment and weaponry. However, there were two that put Gula's Saiyan instincts slightly on edge. They carried themselves with an authority and confidence that the others didn't. Additionally, while they both sported the same colour scheme of white, silver and dark gray, they had very different dress. One had jet-black hair cut very short and flat and had what looked like some sort of tricked-out greatsword on their back. He remembered seeing a few Grimm approaching and watching in fascination as the greatsword transformed into some sort of assault rifle equipped with a bayonet, before its wielder began cutting the Grimm down with ease. The other had dirty-blonde hair and had twin pistols that transformed into machetes. It certainly piqued Gula's interest, seeing the weapons and the proficiency of the ones wielding them. While he had yet to see enough to draw conclusions on the rest of Remnant's people, he felt he could get some interesting fights out of these warriors, if not particularly challenging ones. Maybe he could find a few decent fights if he looked hard enough.

He sat there until the sun finally dropped out of sight and the last hints of orange were about to fade from existence. Deciding to continue pondering the solution to his boredom the next day, Gula flew down to his cave and crawled inside for the night. After settling onto the pile of furs, he yawned again and shut his eyes before falling into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

 _A few days later…_

Gula walked into the village with a few fish tucked under his arm. He was bringing these just for lien, no interest in meat. After handing them to Ross for the lien, he decided to spend some time wandering the village. He talked for a couple minutes with Verde before heading further into the village. He usually didn't go further than the shopping area, but he was feeling more adventurous today. However, given the commotion that he heard as he walked further down the streets, he was starting to wonder if it was a good idea.

"They've been missing for hours and someone mentioned seeing them near the gates! You have to help us look!" He heard a woman shouting. As he got closer, he could see three adults having an argument with the guards at the gates, who had expressions to suggest they'd been cornered.

" _Just ignore it, just ignore it, it doesn't involve you, just ignore it…"_ Gula thought as he started to turn around.

"I'm sorry Grenne, but we can't leave our posts! There's other guards you can ask!" one of the guardsman told the Faunus woman who was shouting at him. Gula wanted to keep walking but found himself slowing down.

" _Damn you, curiosity."_ Gula thought as he glared upwards at nothing before turning around and heading towards the arguing villagers.

"Hi! Is something wrong?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't immediately dismissed. The guards immediately seized on the distraction.

"Oh, hello young lad! What are you doing here?" He asked, a bit too enthusiastically. Gula decided to ignore the tone.

"Well, I heard arguing, something about someone missing and being last seen near here, so I got curious." He said innocently. He was starting to piece it together. The woman doing most of the shouting, name Grenne, was someone Gula had seen with a son once or twice. Who the other was that was missing, Gula didn't know. However, it was likely another kid from the village.

"If someone's missing, I can go look around. I can handle myself in the woods." Gula offered. He suspected that his offer would be shot down, but he figured it was best to offer anyway, instead of muscle his way through the guards and go search anyway.

"That's a sweet offer, but we can't let you go endanger yourself like that." Grenne told him. About what Gula expected. What he didn't expect was one of the other adults to speak up.

"Actually dear, he could be helpful! I mean, he lives out in the woods by himself and always comes into town with all that meat for Ross!" the man, looking to just be starting to get into his years, reasoned. Grenne's eyes widened as she suddenly recognized Gula.

"I suppose you can handle yourself in the wilderness, but it wouldn't be right to ask a child to…" Grenne started before Gula shook his head.

"It sounded like you really needed help, so I want to help. So, can I?" He asked with some finality to his tone. Grenne looked conflicted for a moment, but then relented.

"Okay but be careful! I don't want more children getting hurt because they fell asleep on watch!"

Grenne practically shouted that last sentence at the guards, who visibly shrunk away. Gula walked past the guards and into the woods and started off the path. Once he was far enough from the village, he took to the air and began looking around. He could remember what Grenne's son looked like well enough to be able to recognize him from the air. He stuck close to the canopy though. He didn't want anyone taking notice of him of he could help it.

As he searched, Gula couldn't help but wonder what had spurred him to go out and search for Grenne's son, but he wasn't going to go back on it now. Besides, it wasn't like there weren't some benefits in it for him. Not in terms of compensation in material goods or lien, but there was benefit in it for him. For one, his relationship with the village would get better, specifically the villagers who weren't very trusting of him yet. Ingratiating himself to them could be nothing but positive. And that aside, it also served a second purpose; keeping the village around.

According to everyone he'd asked, Grimm were naturally attracted to negative emotions, and higher concentrations of said feelings meant more and bigger Grimm. Thus, if a village suddenly had a large amount of negativity from, say, a child gone missing in the forest, that would probably lead to an uptake in Grimm attacks, thus prompting more negativity, thus leading to more attacks. Thus, if Gula wanted to keep coming to this village for any reason, it was in his best interests to make sure it was still standing.

As Gula kept flying, he suddenly became aware of how far he'd traveled and frowned. Grenne's son was younger than him by a couple years, so he shouldn't have gotten this far on foot. He'd searched in a radius around the woods and hadn't found anything yet. No signs of a struggle, no evidence of Grimm having passed through in a rush, nothing looking immediately suspicious. Which was suspicious in and of itself.

Gula flew up a higher to get his bearings, as well as see if he could see any trace of Grenne's son. After a few minutes more of flying around and searching for any sign of Grenne's son. At least, not until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and dipped towards the ground and approaching the spot he'd noticed the movement. Once he was close enough, he saw a man dressed in a worn-out coat black coat, brown tunic and beige pants. He had what looked like some sort of sickle-like sword strapped to his side and had an overall unkempt appearance. Gula touched down and began tailing the man through the woods before a second man came into view. It looked like he was carrying something over his shoulder. As Gula got closer to the two of them, he could see that the 'something' was a body. Whoever they were, they were still alive. The ropes around their wrists and ankles attested to that. No point in restraining a dead body. As Gula peered closer though, he realized that the body was Grenne's son!

"Oh, damn it." Gula muttered before cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. He stepped into the opening and rocketed towards the two kidnappers, fist cocked back!

"What the…" the one carrying Grenne's son shouted before Gula's fist connected with the first man's jaw, sending him reeling! Gula deliberately held back a lot, as if he had used too much strength, the man would probably have been blown apart, never mind just being dead, which Gula also wanted to avoid.

As he turned to the one with Grenne's son, he noticed the man's eyes flash yellow and Gula felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him! He shook his head and shrugged it off before preparing to rush the man again, only to notice the first man had stumbled to his feet and was charging him with the sickle, raised for a clumsy swing. Gula jumped out of the way and leapt forward to deliver a kick, only to feel another wave of exhaustion wash over him! This put his timing off just enough for him to instead slam into the man instead of kicking him like he intended. The result was more or less the same, with the man collapsing in pain. Gula slammed his fist into the ground, cracking it, before hauling himself to his feet. What was the kidnapper doing to him?! As he turned to face the man again, he saw the man looking rather haggard. His eyes flashed again and Gula felt the exhaustion hit him a third time. This time, it was enough to put him to sleep. His last moments of consciousness were filled with confusion and frustration. How had they managed to knock him unconscious like this?!

* * *

 _A few hours later…_

Gula groaned as he slowly came to before he noticed that he was feeling weaker. He also noticed that his arms and legs weren't moving. As his eyes opened and the world came into focus, he looked down and saw that he had weird black roped tied around his entire torso, keeping his arms pinned to his sides. His wrists were tied together behind his back, and his legs were bound together as well. Gula's eyes narrowed. Even if no-one on this planet knew what a Saiyan even was (Which he intended to keep that way) they were going to be so sorry for having the nerve to tie him up.

He was just about to power up and break the ropes, but someone dressed in clothes that looked marginally better than the two kidnappers from earlier (but not by much) walked in. He had what looked like a cutlass of some kind strapped to his waist that, based on the aesthetic, probably could transform into a different weapon.

"Seriously, Jakonn? This kid gave you three fractures and a concussion? He doesn't look a day over 10!" The man called back to another person, who Gula noticed was the kidnapper who he had punched, then accidentally collided with.

"I'm twelve, actually." Gula snarked. The man peered down at him and frowned.

"Don't like the lip on you so far. I'd recommend you do something about it before me or someone else decides to solve it in a more… permanent manner." The man remarked in a low tone. Gula show any reaction, so the man moved on.

"I'm serious, Marko. It's a good thing we had those suppression ropes on hand. With how strong he is, no doubt that someone will pay big for him." The kidnapper, now known as Jakonn insisted. Gula was liking this less and less by the moment. A trafficking ring? Really?

"Suppression ropes? What are those?" Gula asked curiously. The apparent leader (Or ranking member was more likely), named Marko, chuckled.

"They're wrapped around you, at the moment. And a shock-collar for good measure. The ropes suppress your Aura and Semblance, leaving you as weak and helpless as any ordinary Faunus. Can't have such a good catch sneaking away on us!" Marko sneered. Gula opted to not respond again, instead occupying himself with looking around, trying to spot any other kidnapped people. As he did, Marko started chatting with Jakonn.

"Good job, bringing in three Faunus kids. If we're lucky, we can get some good money from the SDC for 'em. Especially the monkey kid, if he's as strong as you say." Marko complimented. Gula took note of that. Grenne's son, as well as the other boy were likely somewhere within the building, along with anyone else who'd been kidnapped. Now that they were in a confined location, it wouldn't be nearly as hard to track him down again.

In fact, it was probably going to be a good thing he wound up caught. Well, good for everyone the traffickers had caught. He intended to make this experience as unbelievably horrible for the traffickers as he could. He hadn't heard much good about the SDC, or Schnee Dust Company as it was properly called, according to everyone he'd heard from about it. Being probably the most successful company in existence on Remnant and trading in a substance unique to the planet called Dust, which apparently had different properties based on variety. Gula hadn't seen any in action, so he could speak on how it stacked up compared to Ki. What he did know was that it was pretty integral to Remnant's society, that the SDC basically had a monopoly on it, and that they acquired it using any means necessary, including slavery in all but name, which it avoided only by virtue of the slaves having wages, albeit incredibly substandard wages.

"Hey, you listening?! I said look at me!"

Gula suddenly felt an electric jolt run through his body. The most it caused was some mild discomfort and he barely flinched at it. He looked up at Marko angrily.

"Did you seriously just do that?" Gula asked in a low voice before a red aura erupted from his body! He instantly broke free of the suppression ropes and glowered down at Marko and Jakonn, who were looking at him in awe.

"Oh man, we are gonna make a fortune!" Marko said before Gula blasted him in the face. Not enough to kill him, but enough to throw him to the floor and send him skidding across it and into the opposite wall. Jakonn was swiftly kicked in the chin, sending him through the ceiling to the next floor of the traffickers' headquarters. Gula shot up through said hole and casually knocked the falling Jakonn's body out of his way as he glared at the traffickers in the room, his eyes filled with irritation and frustration.

"This is going to hurt you. A lot." Gula announced before two Ki balls materialized in his palms.

 _Meanwhile, outside the trafficker's compound…_

* * *

"Okay, we're all clear on the plan. Me and Adam will disable the surveillance systems, then you all storm the building and free the prisoners. Keep casualties to a minimum where possible."

Sienna Khan, tiger Faunus and leader of the White Fang, was crouched in the bushes outside a Faunus trafficking operation with her lieutenant, Adam Taurus and a small platoon of White Fang soldiers. They had spent months tracking this operation down and now they were going to end it.

Her soldiers and Adam all nodded as the two ranking members of the White Fang prepared to begin the operation, only to be stopped when a red ball of energy erupted from the trafficker's hideout! They watched as several more blasts erupted from the building and the air was filled with screams before one of the traffickers was launched straight out one of the walls! The White Fang watched in awe before they saw a figure wrapped in red light erupt from the middle of the building and rocket off into the distance!

Sienna and Adam stood there, gobsmacked. Suddenly, they saw Faunus all rushing out of the building, leaving them even more confused!

"What in Oum's name just happened?" Adam asked.

* * *

 _About an hour and a half later…_

Gula walked back towards the village with both boys slung over his shoulder. He'd slowed down to stop the red glow, which would have drawn too much attention if he was too close to the village. As he came into view of the guards, he explained that he had snuck into a trafficker's camp and freed them but had to take a roundabout method of getting back here to avoid getting caught. It was true enough. The boys had been unconscious when he found them and seemed relatively unharmed, rope burns and circulation cut-off aside. The guard's escorted him to the families the two boys belonged to, leading to many tears, much gratitude, and adults that Gula suddenly found way to clingy to him. After he managed to escape that whole nightmare, he bade the village goodnight and left, waiting until he was away enough from the village to fly back to his cave.

All in all, Gula found the day to be a real break from the tedium that had set in recently.

After a Saiyan sized meal of canned foods and giant kebabs, Gula stretched and lay down in his collection of furs and promptly began snoring. What a day it had been.

* * *

 **Well, how was that for a second chapter?!**

 **I really like the way I'm doing Gula. He's still got a hint of that Saiyan outlook on other worlds, but it's not born of the exact same source as the other Saiyans we've seen. Plus, I had fun with writing him just stealing the White Fang's thunder. Oh, I have further plans for that.**

 **The more I've thought about this series, the more I feel like I'm blending RWBY, Dragon Ball and a wee bit of Dragon Ball Z Abridged into it. I'm mainly drawing on Abridged for the humor, thought I haven't really been able to properly cut into it quite yet.**

 **Creativity: Are we setting a precedent for chapters longer than our usual length?**

 **Author: Eh, whatever length works for an individual chapter works.**

 **On that subject, don't expect chapters of this length to be coming out frequently. The only reason you got to 5K long chapters is because I'm on a passion high and it WILL die down. In fact, chapter length is part of what's delaying A Very Bad Idea. The chapters are getting longer and longer, and that means they take longer to write. Even splitting them into smaller chapters won't stop the time problem, so I'm keeping them as is, since I can't find a good cutoff point.**

 **Alright, I think that covers everything! See ya next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, here we are at chapter 3 of Limit Breaker! And this story is only growing more and more! Seriously, thanks for all the support. As of this writing, I've just finished the third chapter of A Very Bad Idea season 3 (set to conclude in April by my estimate) and it's kinda starting to get slow to write. Good thing I only have 5 chapters left for it to be finished.**

 **But enough about that! You're here for Limit Breaker! So, since no one felt like sharing thoughts about the pelt thing, I'm just going to go ahead and do it. If any of you want to complain, I will be directing you to the chapter 2 opening note, so just keep in mind that I put these little bits at the beginning for a reason, K? K.**

 **So, we're doing another time jump, but that's mainly because this isn't a story about a Saiyan growing up on another planet. Well, I mean it sort of is, but not like Goku.**

 **Creativity: You're getting sidetracked again.**

 **Author: Right, sorry.**

 **Alright, so we're juuust going to start getting into Volume 1 by estimate. I'm kinda looking forward to this. I've kinda started looking at this story as an opportunity to yank the rug out from under several RWBY characters and a few RWBY fanfic clichés. You'll see what I mean in a bit.**

 **Creativity: Oh, it's gonna be so fun to screw with them like this.**

 **Author: Indeed.**

 **Alright, no more blabbering! Let us present chapter 3 of Limit Breaker.**

* * *

"I don't think I can take another step…"

"Hey, I told you this training was gonna be three kinds of hell, didn't I?"

Gula was easily jogging around the village with a massive boulder strapped to his back. It wasn't nearly as strenuous as it appeared, but it was still a good workout. The ones lagging behind him, who instead were wearing packs filled with smaller rocks all looked like they were about to collapse from sheer exhaustion.

"Yeah, but you didn't say that it could actually kill us!"

Gula shook his head. It had been four years since the whole trafficking mess had happened, and since then, Grenne's son, named Ash, along with his friend who had been kidnapped with him, named Ingo, had been intent on learning to fight to defend themselves and their village. A couple of years ago, they'd started pestering Gula to train them. It wasn't until a week ago that he finally caved and agreed to train them, which they had immediately shared around town, which prompted a few more youth from the village to come and ask to train with him, prompting him to seriously regret caving to those two boys' pestering. He'd put the teens through a few tests to see what they could do, and while he knew it wasn't exactly fair to compare them to him, he was still a bit disappointed. He'd immediately decided that he'd have to toughen them up a good deal before he could consider teaching them about actual combat.

Hence, the endurance training they were doing. Well, for the ones that stuck with it, anyway. About three quarters of his 'students' ran away in tears after he finished the first day of training with them. Not that he blamed them. With how tough his regimen was, he figured the majority would quit within a few days. Currently, he had five teens he was training. Ash, Ingo, one teen a year older than him named Garrow, and female twins named Violet and Lila. As Gula stopped and turned to look at them, he could see that they probably wouldn't make it another step and decided that weighted jog should probably stop before someone got legitimately hurt.

"Alright, take off the packs and rest for a minute, then try to walk it off. Depending on how well you recover, we may do some basic combat training." Gula informed them before unstrapping the boulder from his back, which fell to the ground with a loud _THUD._ Everyone groaned with relief before doing the same and leaning against the wall of the village. After a couple of minutes, they got up and started walking back to the village gates. Gula had to admit, he was mildly impressed with their progress. A week and a half ago, they could barely finish a lap and a half around the village. Now, they were up to three or four laps! He'd had them lifting and moving large bags of flour for strength training for the baker, and the results were showing. He hadn't intended to start combat training this early, and probably wouldn't anyway, considering how exhausted they were. The lap running was mainly more for the purpose of seeing the improvement in action, and often left almost completely unable of strenuous activity until the next day, which was a whole other hell for them. At this pace, they'd be ready to start combat training in a couple more weeks, and he knew exactly how he wanted to start; Dodging.

Gula had undergone a bit of a change in wardrobe in the last four years. He now wore a dark gray sleeveless tunic over a dark blue short-sleeve shirt, a wolf pelt around his waist, dark forest green baggy pants, and a strange edition of suppression ropes tied around his arms like fighting gloves. A few days after Gula utterly demolished the traffickers, he'd returned to their hideout to see if he could find more of the ropes, reasoning that they'd make good training equipment. So far, he'd been proven right. Training with the ropes tied around his arms restricted his Ki access, forcing him to work harder to draw on it. Thus, when he removed them, his power was much greater. He hadn't tested his full strength for some time, so he wasn't quite sure what he maximum was when it came to sheer destructive power, but he knew that he was getting stronger and that the addition to his wardrobe was a big part of it.

Aside from changes in clothing, he'd also grown taller, now standing about 5 and a half feet tall. His hair had grown relative to him, but never longer than that. He had taken to tying the hair on the back of his head together, which honestly didn't do much to tame it. While it was true that his hair was tame relative to the average Saiyan, it was still pretty spiky. Luckily, it didn't impede his vision at all, so he saw no reason to cut it. He hadn't really gained much visible muscle, but that wasn't really an issue for him. Most of his training revolved around building his Ki reserves, or improving on some aspect of his fighting style. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about how he wanted to fight, and as time had passed, he found that his fighting style involved quite a bit of use of rapid movement, or 'snap-vanishing' for short. In fact, his fighting style was more movement based than other Saiyans, preferring to keep moving and attack from vulnerable angles, rather than just push through an opponent's defenses.

Gula went back into the village and went to visit Ross, who was busy preparing a few sides of bacon for sale.

"Yeesh, I used to wonder how you were able to carry all that meat into town. Now that I've seen your workout routine, I'm almost concerned." Ross commented as Gula shrugged.

"Hey, it's getting results. Pretty good ones, too. I might start actually teaching them to fight sooner than I thought." Gula responded before retrieving the pouch he used to carry Lien from his belt.

"One thing I don't get though, is why the others are so adamant about learning to fight from me. I mean, you told me that there are places in the main city devoted to teaching people to fight and can probably do the job better than I can. I mean, I kinda get Ash and Ingo asking me, since I got them out of that trafficking situation, but why are Garrow and the twins so adamant about it?" Gula wondered aloud. He hadn't really asked them about why they wanted to learn. He figured that they must have some decent motivation, considering he'd been putting them through hell for the last few days and they hadn't run off like the rest of the would-be students. Ross just shrugged.

"If it were that simple, I imagine they would'a done just that. Fact is, we're pretty isolated from the rest of the kingdom because of the Grimm. We don't often get travelers, since everyone travels by Bullhead if they can. I mean, we got the CCT if we need to request assistance, but that hasn't been much of a problem since you showed up. Seriously, I don't know what you do to the Grimm, but I can tell that they are genuinely afraid of you, which should be downright impossible. The village is starting to see you as a local Huntsman and the kids are just reacting as kids do to Huntsmen and Huntresses." Ross answered. Gula crossed his arms and leaned against the stall. He'd heard plenty about Huntsmen and Huntresses; trained professionals in killing Grimm. They took wide varieties of jobs and lived varied lifestyles, but it all came back to killing Grimm. The first time Gula heard about this, he'd wondered what kind of fighters he could find among them, maybe find a few who were strong enough to match him. He'd postponed his plans to do some travelling due to the trafficking incident because he thought it best to lay low for a while after that fireworks show he'd made of taking the traffickers down but overtime the urge to go out and see more of Remnant had started to seep back into his brain. Honestly, if he hadn't agreed to start training the teens, he probably would have just told the village he was heading out on a journey and flew off into the horizon! But, he'd committed to this, and he was going to see it through. At least until he felt the teens had a good enough handle on it to keep training by themselves.

"You know, with your strength, we could probably contact Mistral and you could apply for Haven Academy, get an education and become a proper Huntsman. You'd be a damn good one, for sure. You certainly have the look for it." Ross mentioned offhandedly. Gula shook his head.

"I'm not really interested in being a Huntsman. Really, I have everything I need in the woods and this village. I mean, I have kinda felt like doing some traveling, but I'd still want to come back here." Gula responded. Ross shrugged.

"I suppose, but where are you gonna get the money to travel? And how are you going to get around? I mean, travelling to and from your home to the village is one thing, but where else can you go by yourself?" Ross asked. Gula resisted the urge to smirk.

"I think you'd be surprised." He said under his breath before straightening up and rolling his shoulders.

"Well, I think I'll head back home. I'll bring something for you tomorrow, so sharpen your knives. Oh, and remind me to ask why the others want to learn how to fight from me!" He called over his shoulder as he walked out of town.

On his flight back to his cave, Gula started thinking introspectively. Aside from his Saiyan drive to fight and better himself, why did he suddenly care so much about training and fighting, when those two things had been his primary sources of misery for well over half his life? He didn't really have an answer to that. Despite the negative roll it had played in his life, he still took to them so naturally. It could simply be his Saiyan brain pushing him to do those things compulsively, but he couldn't help but feel that there was SOMETHING more to it than that. What that was though, Gula couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

As he arrived back at the mountain, he decided to stop thinking about it too much and find some other way to occupy his time, eventually settling on thinking up new techniques. He'd already developed a close combat technique he called Riot Session. The gist of the attack for the user to channel Ki into their fists and throw punches while snap-vanishing. He'd tested it on an Ursa Grimm already, albeit incredibly restrained so as to not destroy it in a single hit. The technique was pretty good, but it had one major two-fold drawback, in that the first strike had to not only hit, but also stagger the target enough for the follow-up strikes. If the first strike missed, that left the user wide open for a counterattack, while if the first blow failed to stun the target enough, they could either block or escape the follow-up strikes. Thus, you had to either put some setup into the move or be absolutely sure that the attack was going to hit, which was never a certainty. He just wished he had someone he could practice with. All he had were dummies he could make out of logs, or the Grimm, neither of which were good for practicing the practical application of techniques.

Now that he had a close-combat technique, he wanted a ranged technique. He didn't want to go straight into snap-vanishing with this one. No, this had to be something simpler, something he could use without too much time spent charging it or needing too much setup. He still knew a few of his family's techniques, but he wanted to distance himself from them a bit. He'd still use them if the need came, but he'd rather use his own methods if he could.

The more he thought about, the more the idea started to take form. Most energy attacks used by Saiyans involved a charge up, followed by a massive and destructive blast. While those techniques were good for average Saiyan fighting, he wasn't your average Saiyan. If he was going to employ such techniques with similar results, he'd burn through energy too quickly and spend to much time charging the attack. At least, right now. If he kept training, he could probably close that gap soon enough. At the moment though, he needed something different. He needed something to achieve similar damage on an opponent without having to pour the same amount of energy into the attack.

As he considered it more, he remembered back to when he fought the traffickers four years ago. Several of them had weapons that fired metal projectiles instead of blasters as he'd seen the few times he'd seen the Frieza Force visit Planet Vegeta. They hadn't caused him any harm. In fact, he'd plucked each on out of the air and dropped them on the ground before blowing the room to pieces, but the theory behind them was sound; lots of force at (relatively) great speed concentrated into a small mass. He just needed to figure out how to apply that to a Ki blast. After all, he couldn't just spend the rest of his life using the basic single blast and what little his family had actually taught him.

Standing up, Gula took a deep breath and stretched his arms out in front of him, palms facing the horizon. He then brought his arms down to his right side and cupped his hands together and began to charge a ball of Ki in the space between his palms. After he'd charged the ball for a few seconds, he proceeded onto the next part of his experiment; compressing the energy as tightly as much as possible.

This didn't quite lead to the results he was hoping for, as the orb suddenly become much harder to control and blew up in his hands, throwing him off the mountain and into the forest below! After Gula stumbled to his feet and shook off the dizziness, he came to the conclusion he'd need somewhere else to practice, lest he accidentally collapse his home. It'd have to be pretty secluded too. Not only was that little mishap painful, it was also kind of embarrassing.

* * *

 _Two and a half weeks later…_

Gula strode into town carrying a bear carcass over one shoulder, and a net of fish in the other. He was a bit early today, since ever since they'd started proper combat training, his 'students' had become much more eager to train. He wasn't teaching them Ki control, and didn't really have any intention of doing so unless he decided it was necessary for one reason or another. Besides, Remnant's people had abilities unique to them that they could receive separate training for from someone who was actually qualified to teach. He didn't know much about Remnant's unique powers, Aura and Semblance, but he did have a basic idea of how it worked. As he understood it, Aura was a power fueled by the soul that acted as a shield against harm and could also repair wounds, but it had to be unlocked manually, making it unlike Ki, which one could technically draw on from birth, if one had the knowledge or instinct to do so. Semblance however, interested Gula more. Based on descriptions he'd gotten from a few of the villagers, a person's Semblance was an ability unique to every individual and fueled by Aura. It was likely the reason that the traffickers were able to knock out Gula, Ash and Ingo.

Since a person's Semblance could be almost anything (Though it was usually reflective of an individual's more defining traits) it could lead to some very interesting fights if Gula got lucky (Damn Saiyan brain).

"Sir, we appreciate your offer, but we simple don't have any need of any Hunters right now. There simply aren't enough Grimm around to justify hiring you."

Gula's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the village leader talking to someone in a tone that suggested he was getting a bit irritated. Gula looked further down the road and saw the village leader was standing opposite three strangers, all dressed in a manner that said they weren't from the village. They were all armed, carrying weapons designed for transformation, based on the aesthetic. While Gula's curiosity was piqued, he had to drop of the meat at Ross's shop. He stopped at said shop and handed the meat over to Ross, who also seemed a bit irritated. When Gula asked him what was going on, Ross motioned over to the strangers talking to the village leader.

"It's those three. They marched into town this morning, saying they were Huntsmen looking for work. You can imagine they weren't too thrilled to find that this village isn't having a Grimm problem like others outside the kingdom normally do, and thus there's no work for them. Currently, they're arguing the village leader about becoming the town's official Hunters, but… well, you already know. Maybe don't let them know what you can do. It'll just cause trouble for you." Ross recommended. Gula turned his gaze back to the Hunters. Ross's words were still fresh in his mind, but his curiosity won out in the end.

As he walked over to get a better look at him, he took a closer look at what they were wearing. It looked like there was some color coordination going on. Chiefly, they all wore a brown coat with different colored sleeves and hoods, as well as what appeared to be a sort of crest on the back. The crest looked like a lighting bolt striking a sword. The taller one had deep blue, the middle one had dark red and the last one had a leafy green.

The village elder took notice of Gula's approach and his face looked to suddenly be one of concern, as if he was about to make a heavy gamble.

"Morning! I was just dropping off a catch at Ross's and noticed some new faces in town!" Gula called out when he got closer. The Hunters all turned to look at him, confused.

"Ah, Gula. I didn't think you'd be here until later. These three are Hunters from Mistral, here to find work. Unfortunately, we don't have anything that required their services at the moment." The village leader responded, the last sentence being heavily emphasized. The one in red, a human male with tanned skin and black hair turned to look at the village leader.

"I seriously don't buy that the Grimm just don't come here. Why would they just avoid this one little town out of however many?" he challenged. Gula knew the answer to that perfectly well but refrained. Not only would they think of it as a bald-faced lie, he didn't want that information out there.

"Honestly, it is kind of weird. I mean, I walk to the village from the forest every day and I never run into Grimm along the path. Well, I mean there's the occasional Beowulf that wanders onto the path, but I can handle one Beowulf by myself." Gula faux-pondered aloud, though he had the distinct sense that he just might have let a bit too much slip. The tallest one, a Faunus woman with piercing blue eyes and a small patterning of scales on her face looked at him shrewdly.

"You live outside the village?" She asked skeptically. Gula nodded.

"Lived out there my whole life. I lived closer to the mountains with my parents for a while, but then I found this village by accident and made my new home closer to it, so I could trade with the village. I bring in game and I get repaid in a portion of the meat, plus pelts I can sell to the tanner." Gula answered offhandedly. This drew more strange looks from the Hunters. Now that Gula had gotten a good look at them, he realized he probably wouldn't get a very interesting fight out of any of these three. They were too inexperienced. He could tell by the way they carried themselves. The unique combination of a lack of battle damage to them, their weapons or their clothes, their more youthful appearances and the overconfidence that practically oozed from them all painted a picture of someone who hadn't seen enough battle yet. Oh, they'd likely seen battle in whatever Hunter Academy they'd come from, but not the kind that shaped you into a real fighter. While Gula didn't think he was there yet, seeing how his only opponents had been his family (Who decimated him in every match, until the very last one) and the Grimm (Who didn't pose much challenge at all, and were more like living training dummies to him), he was confident enough to say he had much more battle experience than them. Though he considered that with the combination of the right Semblance and the element of surprise, they might beat him once. His experience with the traffickers taught him that.

"Hey Gula! We've been waiting for you by the North gate! Training was supposed to start five minutes ago!"

Gula turned to see Ingo calling him over. He shrugged apologetically to the village leader and Hunters before jogging over to Ingo, who started heading back towards the gate.

"Training?" The red-dressed Huntsman asked. The village leader turned to look at Gula's retreating form.

"A little over a month ago, he finally agreed to train a few of the adolescents that had been pestering him to help them for some time. After he agreed, a few more asked to join in. They've been training for close to a month now, by my estimate." The village leader answered, glad that they weren't pestering him for some form of paid work anymore.

"Seriously? That kid is training them? I mean, sure, he kind of has the wardrobe of a martial artist, but he looked kind of skinny to be a real fighter!" The one in green stated a bit too loudly. As much as the village leader desperately wanted to tell them that Gula routinely showed up in town carrying several times his own body weight in wild game, he figured that would just lead to them bothering Gula, which he could only assume would end badly. For whom, he couldn't say. But it would definitely end badly.

* * *

"Better, but I'd work on your stance a bit more. You're leaving yourself open to trips and sweeps."

Training was nearing its end and Gula had to say he was rather impressed with their progress. They still had a long way to go, but they were definitely going to get there. He'd lead them through some basic forms and then had them fight him one at a time, pointing out where they did well and where they could improve. Thanks to zenkai, it was really easy to discern, but what made it a bit more difficult was remembering to scale things down to their level and not his.

"Wait, so they've had over a month, and you're still doing this basic stuff? I mean, I get the idea behind mastering the basics before doing anything more advanced, but I would have thought they'd be farther along than this!" He heard someone mutter a little to loudly. He didn't recognize the voice, but he could hazard a guess.

"Actually, we didn't start proper combat until this week. Everything else was strength and endurance training." Gula called over his shoulder before turning around. Sure enough, the three new Hunters were standing there, watching the training.

"Of course, if you're questioning my ability to teach, or fight, there is an easy way to get an answer." Gula prodded. He felt a tiny tinge of regret at having done so, but it only lasted for a moment. He'd been looking for a fight for a while and knocking these guys down a peg would be really satisfying. Plus, it could serve as a teaching experience for his 'students' to not overestimate themselves or underestimate their opponent.

Much to his delight, the one in green took the bait and walked forward to answer Gula's challenge.

"Take a break, everyone, and watch closely!" He called out to the teens, who immediately hurried over to the wall protecting the village. Gula rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck before settling into his battle stance. One arm was held in front of him, elbow bent slightly to the side while the other was positioned further back and slightly elevated, with both of his hands loose and open. He widened his stance and dragged one foot back.

His opponent didn't even bother drawing his weapon, which currently took the form of twin hatchets. He instead cracked his knuckles and hopped lightly from foot to foot before settling into a stance of his own. His fists were raised in front of him, one slightly more elevated to cover his face, while the second was lower to protect his torso. Gula didn't bother taking the first step forward, instead waiting for his opponent to strike.

The Huntsman charged forward, throwing a left hook. Gula knew that it was too telegraphed to be the actual attack, so he skipped backwards and waited for the follow-up strike. It came moments later in the form of a roundhouse kick, which Gula easily blocked with one arm, then shoved forward, sending his opponent sprawling! He didn't bother to advance, instead allowing his opponent to scramble to his feet and take up his stance again. Gula watched him carefully. Overconfident and green or not, this was still a trained Huntsman. Not that he was worried too much about losing, so much as he was worried about it being believable.

The next attack came in form of a blitz. The Huntsman threw a rapid barrage of punches and kicks, much faster than Gula had seen on this planet. Not enough to outmatch a Saiyan, but still impressive. Gula guess that the Huntsman's Semblance was probably something speed oriented. He let a few of the blows hit just for show but blocked the rest and suddenly dropped and swept his opponent's feet out from under them! Once again, Gula allowed the Huntsman to scramble to their feet, which seemed to only make his opponent angrier.

"You know, you aren't going to beat me unless you start taking this seriously!" Gula challenged the Huntsman, who just snarled at him and yanked the hatchets from his belt. Gula grinned.

"Now, that's more like it." He muttered as he tensed his legs to spring forward. The Huntsman twirled his right hatchet, causing it to transform into a pistol. He opened fire on Gula, who had the sense to dodge the bullets instead of catching them. He also kept from going to fast, just so that it didn't look suspicious.

After dodging the third bullet, Gula shot forward and spun around, slamming his elbow into the Huntsman's gut with just enough force to cause him to double over and stumble back! Immediately, Gula's same arm snapped up to slam the back of his hand into the Huntsman's face, sending them tumbling to the ground!

"Well, I believe that's the end of that! So, do I live up to your standards, or…" Gula asked in a half-mocking tone. The other Hunters' eyes were bugging out of their skulls while the teens were silent for a few moments before delivering rapturous applause! Gula was half tempted to theatrically bow, but instead saw to making sure he hadn't accidentally killed the huntsman. Luckily, he was fine and even still conscious!

"Did anyone get the number of the Bullhead that hit me?" He asked groggily. Gula helped him to his feet and led him back to his companions, who were both still struggling to process what had just happened. Four years of grueling training, missions with and without professional Hunters, and one of if not the best hand-to-hand fighters of their year had gotten utterly totally by a forest-dwelling teenager!

"Okay, what kind of training are you doing?!" The one in red suddenly blurted out as Gula and the teens made their way back into the village. Gula motioned for the teens to keep going while he hung back.

"Several varieties of hell, I can tell you that. Actually, I wanted to talk to you guys about something." Gula stated. The two fully aware Hunters looked at him quizzically.

"You see, I've been meaning to go out and do a bit of travelling for a while, but I've been reluctant to leave the village. See, there was this incident with some traffickers a few years back and ever since, I just don't like leaving the village unguarded." Gula began, only to be interrupted by the one in blue.

"Hold up, traffickers? You took on a group of traffickers a few years back?" She asked. Gula shook his head vigorously.

"Oh, no way. Ash and Ingo got captured after wandering out of the village and I offered to go find them. I found them in the traffickers' camp and freed them before running back here. I was already pretty strong at the time, so I might have been able to handle it, but I didn't want to take chances. We haven't had trouble with them since, so I assume someone dealt with them. Anyway, I've stuck around this long because I want to keep the village safe as best I can, but again, I also want to see what else is out beyond the forest and mountains. So, you guys protect the town while I'm gone, and I get to do some travelling! How's that sound?" Gula explained.

"Well, we'll have to talk to the village leader about it, but it sounds like fair deal to me." The one in red agreed. Gula grinned.

"Alright, then let's talk to him tomorrow. I'll walk you to the inn. I can probably get you cheaper accommodations since I helped rebuild the thing after a freak fire Dust accident." Gula offered. The Hunters looked at him incredulously.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder what we just go into." The one in blue muttered.

* * *

 **So, didn't quite get where we thought we would, but we got a decent (If kinda short) fight scene! Yeah, it's gonna be hard doing Gula's fights since I can only have him dodging and blocking so much before it gets boring.**

 **Creativity: I like the part where the Ki blast blows up in his face.**

 **Author: Yes, I'm well aware.**

 **Next chapter, we will finally get into the main plot of RWBY. At least, what should be the main plot, should we not lose our minds with the possibilities. Ooooh, this is gonna be fun!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright! Now we are ACTUALLY going to get into the RWBY story!**

 **Creativity: Oh, this is gonna be fun…**

 **Author: Fun indeed…**

 **So yeah, we're FINALLY going to start the story proper of RWBY, so you could think of the last three chapters as prequels of sorts. Or, as Nomura would say, Kingdom Hearts II.9**

 **Creativity: Heh, jokes…**

 **Author: So, yeah, that's what we're working on right now. Chapter 12 of A Very Bad Idea (s3) is a little over halfway done, and we're still at the beginning of February. Of course, midterms are coming up, so things will probably slow down during that period, but them's the breaks.**

 **Also, sidebar: This story has become my most followed story I've ever written, has gotten the most views in a single day I've had since I joined this site, and is approaching 2K reads before it's even been out for a month.**

 **I have no words to expressed how in awe I am of this. This was the LAST story I expected to be getting this level of attention. Big thanks on that.**

 **Alright, I don't have anything else to say here! I present chapter 4 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

"What do you mean you're leaving?!"

Gula winced at Ingo's shouting.

"I said I'm leaving to travel a little. It won't be forever, but I've been feeling the itch to go explore the world a bit, see what's beyond the mountains, meet some interesting people, who knows?" Gula responded.

"But, you've barely started teaching us fighting moves! We've only done the basics, if even that! You can't just leave us half-trained!" Ingo exclaimed. The others he was training seemed to be in agreement. Gula shook his head.

"I never really intended to teach you more than the basics. Take it from me, you shouldn't be aspiring to fight like me. No one else can fight like me, but me. Did anything I did during that spar the other day with the Huntsman look like anything specific I'd taught you?" He asked. The teens glanced at each other but didn't answer.

"Also recall when I was teaching you ready positions. Did I ever explicitly say that the stances I was teaching you were the best stances, or ones you should use in specific situations? No, I told you the general pointers on what makes a stance good, as well as what various types of stances were good for. I'm trying to give you the tools to develop your own styles. Again, look at the Hunters. Do their fighting styles look like they all come from the same place? I mean, there are a few common traits, but each one is specifically geared towards what weapons they use, and how they use them. Now, I don't think you've all mastered the basics, which I encourage you to do, but I don't think you need me around to do it. Besides, based on the conversation Violet and Lila were having with two of the Hunters, I'd assume you two are considering attempting an entrance exam into a Huntsman Academy." Gula mentioned. The twins froze up, indicating to him he'd found them out.

"Hey, last I heard, you take the exam to get into an academy at seventeen, right? Well, that gives you two years to train and develop your fighting style, maybe incorporate weapons into it? You have the time." Gula encouraged. The twins looked a bit embarrassed but took the encouragement well enough. The others didn't seem as thrilled but could see that there was no changing Gula's mind on this.

"Hey, don't look so down. It's not gonna be forever. I doubt it'll even be a whole year! When I get back, I'll test you all myself. Sound fair?" He asked, a bit of a worrisome smirk tugging at his lips at the mention of 'testing' them.

"I guess…" Ingo mumbled. Gula clapped him on the shoulder, almost sending Ingo tumbling to the ground. Gula had the decency to look sheepish as he helped him back up.

"Hey, like I was telling them, you don't need me showing you how to get stronger. Even if I was showing you how, it wouldn't be as good as you finding your own power. Say you get your Aura unlocked and wind up having a Semblance that contradicts how I taught you to fight? Better you figure that out on your own." Gula advised before giving the whole group one last look before waving goodbye one last time. The village had wanted to throw him a going-away party, but he adamantly refused, though he didn't say no to having one upon his return. Saying no had become exponentially more difficult when they brought up that it would involve a feast, but Gula stuck to his guns on it. As he flew back to his cave, he glanced down at the massive bag that the village had given to him. He'd tried to refuse it, but they were just as adamant on him taking it as he'd been about not having a party. He knew when to surrender. The back was packed with extra clothes, courtesy of Verde, a large quantity of jerky, courtesy of Ross, a bedroll, and a large amount of lien. Gula thought it was a bit excessive, though that could probably be attributed to the fact that they assumed he'd be using ferries or Bullheads to get around, once he got that far of course. Since he could fly, that wouldn't be an issue.

He'd set out tomorrow. He'd acquired a map from the village and marked the location of his cave on it, as well as the village, as well as a few landmarks he recognized. Of course, there was one problem with the map. Or, rather with him. He couldn't read the written words on it. It wasn't that he was illiterate, so much as there was a language barrier. While he and the residents of Remnant spoke the same language, the written form was different. So, for all intents and purposes, he was currently illiterate.

That problem hadn't surfaced before, since there'd been no need for him to read or write in the village. Even now, it probably wouldn't be as big a problem as it seemed, since he likely wouldn't have to do much reading while he was travelling, what with flying taking care of transportation issues and hunting to take care of food issues. If he intended to stay in a city, maybe he'd have to do a little, but he could probably get by.

If worst came to worst, he'd just have to get some lessons from the village.

It was nightfall by now. As he entered his home, he took an appreciative look at his surroundings. It was only now occurring to him that he wouldn't be seeing this place for quite some time. He set down the bag beside his bedding and lay down on it for one last time and let himself drift off to sleep in its comfortable familiarity. For tomorrow, he'd be stepping into the unknown.

* * *

 _The next day…_

Gula looked back at his cave from where he was floating in the air. He'd moved all the furs to his storeroom for while he was gone, just in case of rot or theft, though he considered the latter incredibly unlikely. He had the village gift bag slung over one shoulder and the map tucked away inside. He shook his head and wondered why he was suddenly feeling so sentimental before floating off in a general westward direction.

"Alright, where to go first…" Gula wondered aloud as he flew up a bit higher, so as to avoid being noticed. He pulled out the map and checked it again.

"Maybe I should get a compass somewhere…" Gula muttered. He didn't have any tech to help him find his way around, like a scouter or something for navigation, so he'd have to make due. He knew that on Remnant, the sun rose in the east and set in the west. It was morning, so the sun was in the east. When Gula checked the map, it said that the largest city in that general direction from his current position was Vale. That'd be his first major destination.

With that, he rocketed off east, keeping high enough that people wouldn't notice him, as well as staying just slow enough to not leaving a glowing red trail behind him as he sped across the sky. As far as he knew, there were no animals or vehicles on Remnant that could do that and that would just prompt people to start asking questions. Though it was a bit difficult to reign himself in. He was finally setting out on a journey after four years of half-thoughts and plans!

It was time to explore!

* * *

 _Many hours later…_

Gula could see Vale coming into view! He weaved through a few mountain peaks before looking for a place to touch down where he wouldn't draw any attention. After a while, he settled on touching down outside its agricultural area and walking in from there. As he walked through, he waved to a few of the farmers, who looked a bit surprised by him, but waved back all the same. It was only now that Gula realized how late it was. He'd been flying for most of the day, only stopping once or twice for a quick meal. Well, quick for a Saiyan anyway. To anyone else it would have looked like a full meal.

Gula strode into Vale and marveled at the sheer size of it all. While it wasn't as sleek as the cities on Planet Vegeta, many of buildings in one section of the city were much larger. There was an older feeling to it; a sense of history to many of the older buildings.

Of course, his sightseeing was cut short by the dwindling hours left in the day. After getting directions to the nearest hotel (Which happened to feature an all-you-can-eat buffet, much to the Saiyan's delight) where he immediately departed. He had amassed quite a lot of lien over the five-and-a-half years he'd spent trading with the village, plus the parting gift also from the village, thus he'd be easily able to afford a one- or two-night stay at the hotel. After that, he could set up a camp outside of Vale and go back to hunting for all his food. Who knows? Maybe he could strike a deal with some local business like he had with Ross.

His musings about his potential future accommodations were interrupted when he heard raised voices. Turning to see what the commotion was, he saw a group of three teenagers, all dressed in rather expensive looking clothes. They were glaring at a Faunus teenager who didn't look quite as expensively dressed as the ordinary humans. He groaned and rolled his eyes. He could already tell what this was likely about. He'd heard plenty about human prejudice towards Faunus from the majority of the Faunus in the village. This had led to pushback from the Faunus population, primarily in the form of the civil rights activists turned terrorists named the White Fang. Gula hadn't payed too much attention to the details, but from what he had gathered, the White Fang started off doing peaceful protests for equal rights and treatment of the Faunus population, which had had suffered prejudice, subjugation and worse for much of Remnant's recorded history, which had eventually culminated in a globe-spanning war. A few decades after said war, the White Fang was founded and did everything 'by the book', as Ross had described it to him. However, it seemed that either things didn't get better, or they did but not fast enough. Either way, there was a regime change that lead to the White Fang instead going out of its way to make trouble for anyone who made trouble for the Faunus. Honestly, Gula didn't see too much wrong with the White Fang's current mentality, though he had yet to witness their tactics in person. He'd heard a Remnant expression that had something to do with squeaky wheels and grease that seemed like a good fit for the situation. Besides, if Faunus were being actively attacked, what was so wrong with them defending themselves?

"Well, what about it? Where are the rest of your mask-wearing buddies, animal?" The apparent leader asked. Gula groaned again. Apparently, the well-dressed idiots either had no brains in their skulls, or they were stupendously awful at finding an excuse to bother someone. Gula could tell by looking at the kid that he didn't have the constitution to be running amok with other Faunus, even if his face was hidden behind a mask.

"So, is your brilliant plan to just go around bother Faunus until you find one that's actually in the White Fang, or is there some underlying level of genius that I'm missing?" Gula called out to the group, who turned to look at the random nobody who had the nerve to insult them before their eyes settled on Gula, who had put on his 'warrior frown' as some of the teens back at the village had called it.

"Your beast buddies attacked another train a few days ago, so we're handing out punishment. But if you're gonna ask for a beating, we can hand it out no problem! Just give us a minute and we'll get to you when we're done with him." The leader snarled at him. Gula found the sound of his voice intellectually offensive.

"Do you have any proof that he's in the White Fang, or are you just assuming every Faunus in the world is in the White Fang? Because if that was the case, I would have just broken all of your necks and walked away whistling. Hell, based on the number of Faunus I've seen in Vale so far, I'd bet you'd have been filled with bullet holes the moment you dirtied the ground with your shoes when you came outside this morning." Gula fired back, resisting the urge to smirk at the spluttering rage on the three idiots' faces.

"No one talks to me like that, least of all some mangy animal trash!" He shouted back. He and his buddies all started stalking towards him. Gula stretched his arms across his chest before cracking his knuckles.

"Hey, you go home. These guys won't be following you afterwards." He called out to the teenager they'd been bullying, who turned to run, but stopped to look back, his face filled with fear.

Gula easily bent out of the way of the first punch before doing a full back bend to avoid a clumsy haymaker. He sprang back up and crossed his arms in front of him as he pulled a bit of footwork to avoid a few more swings before leaning to the side and tripping two of the boys who were charging him. By now, a crowd was starting to gather. He lightly hopped over an overly telegraphed kick before maneuvering two of the boys to collide with each other, leading to a few snickers from the gathered crowd, but mostly drawn gasps. He yawned and leaned from side to side, stretching his arms overhead. You know, just to add insult to injury.

Then he heard the crowd gasp again, but he knew why. The apparent leader of these idiots was behind him and charging him with a straight blow to the back of the head. Gula ducked and turned to the side before leaning into the strike, causing the boy to trip and fly over-top of him and into head by the other two boys. Gula straightened up before crossing his arms in front of him again.

"Are you about done, because I'm starting to get bored." He drawled. The three boys glared at him, teeth bared.

"What did you just say?" The leader asked. Gula's 'warrior frown' turned to a glare that laser-focused onto the boy, causing him to flinch a bit.

"I said I'm bored. You're boring me." He replied in a low tone. The message in his voice was clear. He was outright DARING them to try again. However, the two lackeys seemed unsure of themselves now. Their leader just let out an enraged shout and charged Gula, throwing a punch straight into his gut!

Gula didn't even flinch. Instead, his gaze slowly turned downward to the boy, who's face was turning to one of pain and fear. Gula's glare sharpened.

"Now, there are two ways this is about to end. Either you and your goons will run away from here with your tails between your legs, or I add a concussion to your bruised knuckles and your goons will drag you away from here with your tails between your legs. Do I make myself clear?" Gula asked in a razor-sharp tone. The three idiots turned and ran away as fast as they could, tripping over themselves a few times as they went. Gula let out a satisfied sigh before turning to look at the crowd that had assembled.

"Well? Shows over, back to your lives." He said a bit loudly, prompting them to all disperse rather quickly. There was a small level of satisfaction he got out of watching them hurry off, but he quickly brushed it aside. There was a bit too much Saiyan in that feeling. What irked him though was that the crowd didn't exist until he decided to go and humiliate those three pathetic excuses for intelligent life, and only started to gain interest when he stepped in to put them in their place. With a collective attitude like that, it was no wonder that tensions between humans and Faunus were as bad as he'd been led to believe. It was practically a powder keg waiting for the right spark.

Well, it wasn't his problem. At least, not yet. Should it be made his problem, he'd probably solve it in a manner similar to the trafficking incident.

Finally, Gula reached the hotel and booked a room for the night. It wasn't that big or fancy, but it was luxurious compared to his cave. After dropping his things off, he opted to freshen up a bit. He doubted the other hotel guests would appreciate a wild Saiyan's musk in the hallways. Once he was finished cleaning up, he pulled on one of the slightly more formal outfits that Verde had put in his going-away bag. It consisted of a black sleeveless tunic, grey long-sleeve undershirt and dark blue cotton pants, tied together with his forest-green belt. After tucking his room card into his pocket along with his lien bag, he went to the restaurant and paid for the all-you-can-eat buffet, where he proceeded to amaze and mildly horrify the other hotel guests by working his way through five plates piled high with just about every item available with Saiyan gusto. Well, he did restrain himself enough to not look like a total slob. Not that he did much to restrain his speed. Dish after dish he devoured. One of the patrons even muttered that they could have sworn a whole plate went down with the food! After finishing his meal, he let out a contented sigh and went back to his room for the night. The hotel staff were trying to figure out just what they were going to tell upper management that someone had eaten enough food for ten or even fifteen people. Worse still, they dreaded the possibility that the monster might return the next day.

As Gula settled into bed, taking the time to appreciate that he was sleeping on a proper mattress and not on a pile of furs laid on the cold rock of a cave floor. It wasn't long before he drifted off into a blissful sleep. The next day was sure to be interesting.

* * *

 _The next day…_

Gula rolled out of bed and stretched before pulling on his casual clothes. After making sure the suppression ropes were tired properly, he stowed his bag under the bed and made sure the hotel card was in his lien pouch and that said pouch was thoroughly fastened. After giving himself a once-over in the mirror, he departed to go sight-seeing in Vale.

He'd only gotten a small taste of it the previous day, but Gula was still impressed by the sheer size of Vale. He'd seen practically nothing of Planet Vegeta, aside from a few glances out windows, so being able to explore a city as much as he liked carried a special thrill for him.

The first thing he did was check out the commercial district, after getting directions from a few helpful citizens. There had been a common counter-question of "Why can't you look it up on your scroll", to which they had baffled expressions when he told them he didn't have one. The first person was even more bemused when he asked what a scroll even was.

Apparently, scrolls were small handheld devices that were used for communication, navigation, and many other functions. It honestly sounded like it could do almost anything. It also apparently was something that basically everyone had some level of access to, though he hadn't seen any in the village. It was probably something to do with the isolation, though he imagined they had a few of such devices for emergencies.

After explained that he lived fairly isolated from the rest of civilization, they were a bit more sympathetic and directed him towards the commercial district. Once there, he eagerly explored all the vendors he could find, particularly the ones offering food. The sensible side of his brain fought tooth and nail to manage his lien, but ultimately it was fighting up a near-vertical hill. His lien dropped by about a quarter from all the snacking he did just between waking up and lunch!

One thing that was a bit hard to shake was the feeling that people were staring at him. It wasn't exactly hard to see why. He'd noticed there was a definite difference of wardrobe between regions. The residents of Vale mostly wore some combination of shirt and pants, plus the occasional jacket and other such add-ons, while Mistral featured more tunics and robes. His current wardrobe definitely looked more Mistral than it did Vale, but it was still a bit different, being oriented around fighting.

The suppression ropes probably didn't help either, though he doubted that people actually knew what they were.

Of course, his thoughts on why people were giving him funny looks were interrupted when suddenly, what felt like a surge of electricity shot through his nerves, freezing him in place, followed immediately by a painful sensation coming from his tail!

"Catch a monkey by its tail!"

The moment his tail was released, Gula collapsed to one knee before turning to see two teenagers running off, howling with laughter. His immediate instinct was to power up, fly after them at top speed, then take his time breaking each of their bones one by one, but there were a few things wrong with that problem. Chief of them being that the authorities would try to arrest him. They wouldn't succeed, but they'd try, which would be very annoying. Aside from that, it would reveal him being able to fly, power up and generally attract way too much attention. So as much as he wanted retribution for getting his tail pulled, he very begrudgingly let it go.

" _I swear, if this becomes a regular occurrence, I might just snap and make the White Fang look like friendly and innocent in comparison."_ Gula growled in his head.

To take his mind off of the incident, he opted to grab some lunch. After poking around, he discovered a vendor that made something called a 'sandwich'. It was basically two halves of bread with all manner of meats, vegetables, sauces and condiments between them. After ordering an outrageously large sandwich, consisting of pulled pork, roast beef, double bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, onions, tomato, mayo, mustard and hot sauce, he found somewhere to sit down and devoured the sandwich in seconds, much to the shock and awe of onlookers. Feeling much better after the food, he decided to check out the docks. Despite the very air being permeated with the stench of fish, there was something about looking out at the ocean that tugged at him. He spent a good while watching it, seeing ships come and go, people walk by. Despite the sense of adventure he could feel it sparking in him, there was also a sense of peace to it as well.

After a while, he got bored and walked off, heading back towards the hotel. It was later into the afternoon and he hadn't explored quite as much as he wanted to, but he wouldn't get very far without a map, which he would need a scroll for. Oh, and it probably would require him to be able to read at least one of Remnant's languages. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he was going to have to fix that at some point. Perhaps he could ask one of the village residents to teach him.

As he wandered around even more, Gula suddenly became aware that night was falling, and the broken moon of Remnant was beginning to rise!

"Where did the day go?" Gula mused as he began to hurry back to the hotel. However, as he was passing an alleyway, his Saiyan hearing detected what sounded like either a fight, or a crime in progress. Either way, his curiosity got the better of him. He went to take a look and was pleasantly surprised to find the same jackasses who had pulled his tail earlier threatening a pair of teenage Faunus at knifepoint.

"If there is a god overseeing the universe, thank you so much…" Gula muttered as he geared up to charge in.

"OH, PULL MY TAIL, WILL YOU?!" He roared as he performed a flying sidekick into the first offender, who went flying into a brick wall hard enough to leave a small imprint of him in the bricks! Gula took a moment to consider that he might have overdone it on that one but couldn't be bothered to think about it more when he had another annoyance to take vengeance on. This one was the one with the knife, but obviously had no idea what they were doing with it. The grip was so clumsy that Gula was almost offended by it!

As the idiot charged and swung the knife, Gula leaned back and brought up his knee, driving it into the would-be attacker's chest before spin-kicking him away. Gula could feel bones cracking slightly under the heel of his foot, but payed it no mind. As long as they weren't permanently injured, crippled or dead, they'd be fine as far as he was concerned.

"Oh, that felt way better than it probably should have." Gula muttered as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. The Faunus couple who had been threatened were watching with awe and a tinge of horror as Gula stood up to walk off. Unfortunately, he'd picked a rather poor time to stop a crime while exacting vengeance. Or he just shouldn't have yelled so loud when he leapt into action. Either way, a Vale police officer had seen the whole thing and immediately put him under arrest. Fighting every instinct to just break the cuffs, avoid the officer's night-stick and taser (more than one of the traffickers had tried those to no avail) and then potential pluck the bullets from his sidearm from the air, then waltz away, and oh how satisfying it would feel to do so, he allowed the officer to cuff him and drive him to the police station and place him in a cell to wait for interrogation.

Soon enough, he was led to a concrete room with a heavy table in the middle. What he wasn't expecting was for the room to be occupied.

Already sitting at the table was a girl who looked to be around his age, maybe a year younger. She had short black hair that turned red at the tips, had silver eyes and was dressed in a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, thick black stockings and combat boots with red trip, and red trim around her skirt. Additionally, she wore a silver brooch shaped like a flower on her belt, and a red cape and hood that was fastened to her dressed with two silver cross pins.

After being placed in the chair and handcuffed to the table, he groaned and leaned back in the chair as much as he could. There was awkward silence for a few minutes before Gula finally snapped, needing desperately to do SOMETHING about the lack of noise.

"So, what are you in for?" He asked offhandedly.

"I, uh, stopped a Dust shop robbery when someone tried robbing me during it." The girl responded a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Huh. I stopped a mugging, though I might have gotten a bit carried away." Gula responded. He looked down at the handcuffs. They were starting to irritate him.

Luckily, it wasn't long before someone arrived. That someone being a tall, imperious looking blonde woman with green eyes and glasses, dressed in a white pleated top, pencil skirt and a black cape with purple interior lining.

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be take lightly, young lady!" The woman growled as she paced back and forth in front of the two of them.

"Excuse me, but if you're chewing her out, why am I here?" Gula asked tiredly. The woman shot him a look that caused him to momentarily freeze up. Seemingly satisfied with the look's results, she went back to chewing out the girl.

" _How did she do that?"_ Gula wondered. The girl was arguing about how 'they' started it.

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back, and a slap on the wrist!" She exclaimed before snapping something that didn't look terribly effective as a weapon, but looked painful nonetheless.

" _Where did she get that?"_ He wondered, having not noticed it at all until it was smacked on the table.

"And as for you, your lack of self-restraint put those two boys in the hospital, and they will likely be staying there for weeks." She snarled at him. Gula wanted to say that he'd actually exercised quite a bit of self restraint, since he could have blown them and possibly a good section of the block to dust if he hadn't been restraining himself but held his tongue. Setting aside the obvious reasons, he didn't want to get on this woman's bad side. She was probably the most intimidating person he'd ever meet on this planet.

"In my defense, they were threatening two Faunus teens at knifepoint, and they'd pulled my tail earlier that day, and who knows how many other Faunus they harassed, threatened or hurt in between those hours." Gula retorted in as respectful a tone he could muster. The woman snapped the strange stick on the table again, causing both him and the girl to flinch.

"Be that as it may, you can't just go cracking their ribs and breaking bones in reprisal!" She reprimanded.

"Now hold on, maybe I did go a bit overboard, but I know I definitely didn't break any bones. Fractures, definitely, as well as concussions, but I didn't break anything." Gula argued. The woman just pinched her brow.

"Well, all that aside, there's someone here who wants to talk to the both of you." The woman said, sounding drained at the mere mention of this 'someone'.

As it turned out, this 'someone' was a tall man with silver hair and brown eyes, dressed in a black suit and green shirt, green cowl around his neck with a cross pendant and spectacles. He was carrying a mug of brown liquid and… a plate of cookies? What kind of a law enforcement station was this?

"Ruby Rose." He said in an authoritative voice. He leaned in to get a closer look at her.

"You have silver eyes." He noted aloud.

" _And her eye color matters… why? Well, I guess I don't need to ask her name now. Also, nice to meet you too, specs."_ Gula thought in his head. Why couldn't things speed along? He was getting sleepy.

"So, where did you learn to do this?" He asked in the same authoritative tone. The woman held up a large black scroll showing video of Ruby fighting with what appeared to be… a giant scythe that could also shot bullets? Setting aside the absurdity of the weapon, she was rather impressive with it.

"S…Signal academy." She stuttered.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The man asked in a skeptical tone.

"Well, one teacher in particular." She admitted. The man seemed to be more believing.

"I see…" He muttered before putting the cookie plate down in front of her. Gula rolled his eyes.

" _Not that I'd actually have one, but seriously? I'm right here."_ Gula muttered in his head.

"It's just that I've only ever seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow." The man mused as Ruby began scarfing down the cookies.

" _And people think I eat fast…"_ Gula thought as he watched with fascination.

"Thaf my unkfle." She said through a mouthful of cookies. The adults all looked at her pointedly. She quickly swallowed.

"Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all…"

Ruby started making fighting noises and action poses, prompting Gula to lean back, so as to not get smacked in the face.

" _Seriously, I'm right here!"_ He exclaimed in his head.

"So I've noticed." The man said in an amused tone before taking a seat across from the two of them.

"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" He asked. Ruby stopped doing the poses, much to Gula's relief.

"Well, I want to be a Huntress." Ruby answered with a surprising amount of conviction.

"You want to slay monsters." The man clarified.

"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal, then I'm going to apply to Beacon. You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I want to help people! My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought 'might as well make a career out of it'. I mean the police are alright but…" The rest devolved into a rant about how 'awesome and cool' Hunters were. At the end of it all, there was a pause before the man spoke again.

"And you." The old man said to Gula, who immediately straightened up.

"Setting aside the control issues, your strength and technique are impressive. Might I ask who taught you?" He asked Gula.

"Well, I learned a bit from my family, but I've been living on my own since I was ten. I've been self-taught ever since." Gula responded carefully.

"And how old are you?" The man asked again.

"Sixteen. I've lived in the wilds mostly, but I do live close to a village. I go there to trade regularly." He answered.

"Forgive me, but I find that answer quite absurd. How could a ten-year-old child survive in the wilds on their own, especially with the Grimm about." The man responded. Gula just shrugged.

"I'm strong and fast enough to get by. Plus, I don't tend to have negativity problems, so I don't attract more Grimm." Gula explained, trying to seem plausible but not outrageous. It was clear they weren't really buying it. Oh well, that was their issue. He'd be walking out of here one way or another.

"I still find it hard to believe, seeing as we only have your word and the footage to go on. However, I am curious where you live in relation to Vale. You did mention you live in the wilderness." The man baited. Gula opted to indulge him.

"I live near the Mistral mountains. Like I said, there's a village near my camp that I regularly trade game for small necessities like clothes, blankets, etc. I wanted to do some travelling, so I opted to come to Vale. By the way, stellar first impression of your city. First day, I deal with three rich snobs picking on a Faunus kid, then the second day, that's today by the way, I get my tail yanked and squeezed before finding the same idiots who did said tail yanking threatening two Faunus at knifepoint." He responded pointedly. All three residents of Vale visibly winced at the bite in his tone.

"Well, I apologize on behalf of Vale for such a terrible first impression. Now, I do believe I have a question for the two of you. Do you know who I am." The man asked. Ruby was quick to answer.

"You're professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon." She answered. Gula's eyes widened a bit. What exactly was the headmaster of a prestigious academy doing in the detention center?

"You want to come to my school?" He asked, though Gula noticed that he hadn't specifically addressed Ruby.

"More than anything." Ruby responded. Gula could tell she was serious about it. Given her demeanor though, he had a feeling that she didn't quite appreciate the life she was getting into. Of course, not many did. Saiyan's were taught exactly what they were getting into from birth, but that was because every Saiyan was expected to fight first. If fighting didn't work out, then you either died or were assigned a different function, such as working in the meat factories.

"Well, okay." He said to Ruby, who's eyes widened before freezing in place. Ozpin stood up.

"Oh and young man, I don't believe I ever got your name." Ozpin asked.

"It's Gula." He said.

"Well Gula, I'm extending this offer to you as well." Ozpin said, prompting a sound of surprise and shock from the woman. Gula suspected that if she had been the one with the drink instead of Ozpin, there would have been a spit take.

"I'll pass."

The moment the words left his mouth, Gula could swear he heard the sound of breaking glass.

"Pardon?" Ozpin asked. And unlike the leading and controlled tones he'd been using this whole time, this one sounded like genuine surprise.

"I appreciate the offer professor, but I'm going to forego it." Gula replied as he cracked his neck.

"Young man, you do realize that opportunities like this don't come along every day, you know." Ozpin attempted to clarify, but Gula shrugged.

"I'm well aware of that, but I don't feel like Beacon's the place for me. Besides, it's probably got actual proper academic stuff to do, right? That'd be a problem." Gula said firmly.

"A problem how, exactly?" the woman asked sharply. Gula rubbed the back of his head, snapping the handcuffs as he did.

"I, uh, don't know how to read or write." He answered. It was hilarious, watching every jaw in the room drop.

"Yes, I suppose that would be a barrier. Even still, you could learn greater control over your strength and develop your technique even further with Beacon's resources. I'm sure we could simply sign you up for the next year and focus on getting you literate in the intervening year." Ozpin proposed, but Gula wouldn't be swayed.

"If I didn't have other things going on back in Mistral, I'd be more tempted. But even then, I don't think I'd take you up on the offer. Thanks for the thought though. I'll be in Vale for a few more days if your looking for me. Given how you were able to find Ruby, I don't think it'd be that hard." Gula responded before standing up and casually snapping the handcuffs off his wrists before stretching. Everyone suddenly became very conscious of how strong Gula was.

"You know, you aren't free to go yet." The woman informed him. Gula shrugged.

"I can wait. Those cuffs were just getting irritating. Look, I'll stay out of trouble for the rest of my stay in Vale, if you're really that worried about it. Oh, and just as an aside, there's a couple of teens in the village I mentioned that want to become Hunters. I've been giving them some basic combat training and they'll be old enough to apply in a few years. Maybe give my slot to them? They'll get more out of it than I would." Gula suggested.

"I'll take that under consideration." Ozpin responded before opening the door and indicating that Gula could leave. Grinning appreciatively, Gula strode out of the room and collected his lien pouch before making sure that no-one had been dipping into it. Thankfully the hotel card was still in it. He swiftly departed and made his way back to the hotel for sleep, not even bothering with dinner.

In the meantime, three people in different locations around Vale were still struggling to process that someone had intentionally turned down admittance into Beacon academy. It would puzzle them for many, many days.

* * *

 **HELLO LONGEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN EVER!**

 **Also, Gula actually said no to Ozpin. That was something I kinda wanted to do for a RWBY story even if it wasn't a DBZ crossover one.**

 **Creativity: Yeah. Ozpin's brain probably can't comprehend that someone would turn down the offer he gave Ruby. Speaking of, I wonder what she thinks of that.**

 **Author: We'll find out later. For now, we'll be going into what Gula gets up to through the rest of the volume! Won't that be exciting.**

 **ALSO!**

 **The author would like to make it clear that they do not condone any acts of terrorism or organized violence of any kind, and that these works should not be taken as approval or endorsement of them. These were simply written from as close an approximation as possible of the psychology of a fictional alien species and their opinions in reflection of that psychology, which should not be taken as a reflection of the Author's own opinions or psychology.**

 **First disclaimer I've ever done, as far as I can tell.**

 **Well, all that aside, have a wonderful day and I'll see ya'll next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright… now where did I… Ah! There it is!**

 **Creativity: What are you looking for?**

 **Author: Oh, just searching for the order form for my new chair. Per LyokoMARVELanime's suggestion, I opted to instead get the deluxe easy chair instead of the gold-plated throne. Actually, I went one step further and asked for a Conagher Relaxo feature added to it.**

 **Creativity: You mean with the built-in drink cooler that dispenses said drinks in six-packs on a shelf out the side of the chair?**

 **Author: Exactly the one.**

 **Creativity: Nice. But, uh, shouldn't we be addressing the audience?**

 **Author: Oh my! Sorry about that!**

 **Welcome to chapter 5 of Limit Breaker! We're slowing down a little bit since we're due to resume publishing of A Very Bad Idea come March 3** **rd** **, which is not too far away from this time of writing. So, quick detail on the poll I mentioned either at the beginning of the story or the second chapter in, KH is leading with four votes. This poll will be running until the end of A Very Bad Idea, which will be some time in late April. So if you're interested in helping determine which story gets a spotlight next, head over and vote!**

 **Alright, actually story business! Lots of people were VERY happy about my little rug-pull. Glad it went over so well! I suspected the reactions to this would be mixed, but the response was overwhelmingly positive. I knew I wanted to do that when I started this series, but as I wrote it more, the more it made sense to do it this way.**

 **For one, it means I don't have to worry about team placement and naming for Gula, which is a headache I'm glad to have dodged. For another, it's uncommon in RWBY stories. Plus, lets face it, what would Gula really get out of going to Beacon? He's already strong enough to take on all four Maidens (Most Saiyans his age are, lets be clear) and putting him in the middle of Beacon would not serve much narrative purpose because he'd just solve everything for everyone, and that's boring.**

 **Alright, thought process laid out for the world to see, I think we can get to the chapter proper. Here's chapter 5!**

* * *

"So you seriously turned down an offer from Beacon's Headmaster to attend his school?!"

"Why did I choose to share that information...?"

Gula grumbled as he kept pulling weeds out of the ground. He'd started camping in the mountains near Vale and was earning some lien by helping one of the smaller farms with fieldwork. He wasn't earning much lien from it, but he didn't need much to begin with. It was all just bonus for him, since he was helping with this just to alleviate boredom and work on his stamina. He'd also started visiting the farm with game occasionally, though nothing like what he would bring Ross. Just the occasional bear, deer or other large animal he found before he arrived in the morning.

However, he was considering packing up and never returning, considering how long the topic of conversation had been that he had been offered a once in a lifetime chance and passed it by. It hadn't been there too long, but the constant surprise and bemusement was starting to wear on him.

"Yes, I turned it down. I wasn't interested, I wasn't qualified, and I have other things to do besides going to a school for doing things I'm already good at." Gula retorted, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice, but not finding quite the success he hoped for. The farmer, named Garth, didn't seem to notice, as he just ploughed right along with how amazing Beacon was, how hard it was to get in, all the amazing hunters it had produced! Given the fascination that this farmer had with Beacon, it sounded like HE wanted to go there… It suddenly clicked why the farmer wouldn't shut up about Beacon.

That didn't make it any less irritating to listen to the continued droning about how amazing Beacon was, but it did prompt Gula to at least indulge him a bit more, though it did prompt him to wonder why Garth was farming if he still felt this passionate about being a Huntsman. Farming obviously had been good for him. He was stronger than the average human, though compared to Hunters, he was probably woefully below standard. Gula had also seen a well-maintained firearm inside the house from the few times he saw the interior through the open front door, which led further credence to Gula's guess. Still, wasn't really his business what Garth wanted to do with his life, nor how he tried to create the semblance of a different one.

Soon enough, Gula had helped clear a good chunk of the field with his bare hands. Garth did have machinery to help with weeding, but Gula opted to do it all by hand for training. Afterwards, Garth invited Gula for dinner, but he politely declined and went back to his campsite. Once he was far enough into the woods, he flew up to his new campsite in the mountains. He hadn't found any good caves to inhabit and he hadn't felt inclined to try and make one, so he simply camped on a flat stretch a few hundred meters up the base of the mountain. Along the way, he made a bit of sport out of a pack of reptilian Grimm that he found skulking around the base of the mountain. He believed that the official name for them was Creeps, but he wasn't quite positive. Not that it mattered, since their names quickly became 'dead Grimm' as soon as they ran into him. After finding dinner for the night, today's selection being three exceptionally large fish he'd caught after an evening swim. After cleaning them out, he speared them with large sticks for giant fish kebabs and set about cooking them. As he looked around, he decided he was starting to get a bit bored of the farm work. He'd been out here for two weeks, and while he had explored Vale pretty well and he was making fair enough money from the farm work, he wanted to do something a bit different. He'd seen what looked like some ruins on his initial flight in to Vale and had become evermore curious about them the more they crossed his mind. He decided that he'd be going to explore the day after tomorrow, since he didn't want to leave Garth wondering and worrying about him missing a day.

Of course, that still left another question; How did he want to get there? Did he want to fly up there and explore that way, or did he want to find some weights and climb up for the training he could get? He could think about that later. For now, the fish was just about done, and he was getting hungry. After removing them from the fire, he started tearing through the fish kebabs at record speed, stripping the fish from the sticks and leaving said sticks picked completely clean.

After a contented sigh, he took some time to admire the sunset again. It was different experience, even though both his viewings were from a mountainside.

Despite the similarities, the horizon stretching into the distance was different. The trees gave way to plains, then to ocean. Watching the sun reflect off the water was captivating. However, the sun soon vanished below the horizon, signalling that it was time for sleep. He unrolled his bedroll and settled in for the night, looking up at the stars in the night sky. He couldn't help but wonder if any of the stars he saw were the two suns of planet Vegeta.

He hadn't thought much about other worlds beyond Remnant, mainly since Remnant had virtually no space program. That fact probably wouldn't change in his lifetime either. Remnant's dependency on Dust for almost all aspects of civilization, including technological advancement, coupled with the fact that apparently Dust didn't work once it got a certain distance from Remnant meant that unless they suddenly came across a vast new resource that could act as a power source, the population of Remnant would be confined to their world for a long time.

Honestly, staying on their planet and not venturing out into the unknown was probably a good idea, at least for now. With Frieza out there and galactic trade of whole planets being as lucrative as it was, the fewer ships from Remnant out there to lead the Frieza Force back to Remnant the better.

On the other hand, Gula couldn't say that the thought of getting his own ship and travelling the galaxy didn't hold a certain appeal. Of course, he needed to find a ship first, which was incredibly unlikely, on account that the only thing that could possibly work was the ship he arrived in, which wasn't going to be taking him anywhere BEFORE he'd buried it under a mountain.

Soon enough, sleep overtook him, and he drifted off. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched…

* * *

 _In a tower, not to far away…_

"Minimal effort, you say?"

"Kid wasn't even trying, Oz. He seemed almost bored!"

Professor Ozpin stood by his office's massive window overlooking Beacon's courtyard and landing pad, listening to a report he'd received from one of his most trusted informants; a man by the name of Qrow Branwen. He'd been evermore curious of Gula since he'd met the boy that night in the police station. Despite the excessive force he'd put into each strike, Ozpin could still see the form of a practiced martial artist in him. So, after he'd gotten over the shock of having his offer to study at Beacon rejected by the lad (Well, more like after a few cups of spiked coffee helped bring the shock down), he called Qrow to watch him for a few days, see if he could learn anything more about him.

He'd learned more than he'd bargained for. Apparently, Gula could not only dispatch of Grimm with incredible ease, it appeared that he made sport out of it! Peter would definitely like the boy for that. Still, given how Qrow had told him he was able to take out Boarbatusks with a single punch, regardless of where he hit it, it seemed he had been holding back a great deal during that altercation with the young men he'd hospitalized.

And that didn't even come to the strange energy blasts he could use, least of all flying. Ozpin was REALLY struggling to comprehend the flying and energy blasts. If it had been one or the other, he would have just assumed it was the boy's semblance. However, sporting both had left him with a conundrum. If being unmoored from the force of gravity was the boy's semblance, how did he launch energy from his palms? Or, if the energy blasts were his semblance, the how was HE FLYING?!

"Oz, you listening?! Seriously, what kind of kid looks BORED while fighting a pack of Grimm?!" Qrow exclaimed, while reaching for his ever-present hip-flask.

"I'm just thinking Qrow. I will say though, I am beginning to see what he meant about not having problems with Grimm. I'm just trying to parse out everything you've explained so far." Ozpin replied, keeping his voice level.

"Likely, his ability to fly is his Semblance. As for the energy projectiles, I have a theory about that. Perhaps young Gula has learned of a brand-new offensive application for Aura." Ozpin mused aloud.

"Normally I'd say you're crazy, but I can't think of a better explanation. I've seen plenty of crazy shit, but I haven't seen anything like this. Seriously, the fact that a kid that's only a year older than Ruby can do half this shit is kind of scary." Qrow muttered before taking a heavy swig from his flask. Ozpin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, the implications are a bit intimidating, least of all the possibility, however slight, that there could be others like him. If it is true that he has some special understanding of Aura that allows him to use those projectiles, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that perhaps his immense strength comes from that understanding as well. If that is the case, then he could probably teach this to others. In truth, that concerns me more. While he is incredibly powerful, he's just one adolescent. It would be difficult, but we could contain him if need be. However, if his knowledge were to pass to the wrong individual, that could lead to disaster." Ozpin mused. Qrow let out a bitter laugh.

"Ya really know how to take an unnerving situation and make it even scarier, Oz!" Qrow joked. Ozpin smiled in spite of himself. He knew that it was never a good idea to spur Qrow on, but he couldn't help it in this instance.

"Well, what should we do? You can bet that once _she_ gets wind of someone like him, she's gonna become very interested in… dealing with him, one way or another. And with Amber out of commission, Spring still unaccounted for and Amber's attacker still out there, we're stretched too thin to try and bring the kid in if he becomes a problem, or if we need to get him out of her way." Qrow muttered as he leaned against the wall. Ozpin had to agree. He was sure that with enough qualified Huntsman and Huntresses, they could bring Gula to Beacon for his own safety, and that of Remnants. However, Qrow was right about them being stretched thin.

"I'm sure we can figure something out of that problem arises. For now, I'm more curious about _how_ he does what he does. He mentioned his parents taught him, and he's well versed in empty-handed martial arts. Perhaps we can find something to trace his knowledge backwards, see if we can decipher a few clues from that." Ozpin suggested. Qrow looked thoughtful.

"Seems like a longshot, but it's better than nothing. Maybe ask Leo if he knows any instructors we could ask. I'll see if Tai or any of the other Signal teachers have any ideas." Qrow advised before walking to the window and leaping out, transforming into his namesake and flying off. Ozpin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Just what exactly was Gula? In all his life, he'd never seen or heard anything quite like Gula, at least not in specific ways. He's seen people find unique ways to overcome gravity, ways of weaponizing Aura in strange and unorthodox ways, methods of solving ranged attacks without bullets or even weapons for that matter. However, something was unmistakably different about Gula. He carried no Dust and had displayed strength of destroying some of the most durable Grimm with a single blow. The hair on his head didn't match the fur on his tail and his dress didn't even quite mesh with rural Mistral fashion, despite him apparently hailing from the region and trading with a village from said region. Additionally, while Ozpin hadn't noticed before, he had noticed that the ropes Gula wore around his arms and fingers were suppression ropes, which meant that his strength and Aura should be suppressed to near non-existence, but all evidence proved contrary. Meaning that either the ropes weren't as strong as they should have been, or that Gula's sheer power simply meant that the suppression ropes couldn't contain it all, which was an unnerving prospect.

Just what on Remnant was Gula?

* * *

Gula stretched and yawned as he felt his muscles waking up. Today was the day. He was going to finally go explore the ruins. He'd picked up a few lengths of ropes and chains, which he'd used to secure some heavy rocks to his body for training purposed and was now standing by the sheer cliff. After cracking his knuckles and neck, he began the climb. It was challenging enough to get a good workout from, but not so difficult so as to exhaust him by the time he reached to top of the cliff, which didn't take very long. After reached the top, he removed the weights and stretched again before setting off at a brisk jog toward where he'd seen the ruins. He was on the move for close to a half-hour when he noticed something in the distance. It looked like… Was that people being launched from the side of a higher cliff into the forest? Huh. Maybe Remnant's people were more like Saiyans that Gula originally thought. Then it occurred to him that, considering how close he probably was Beacon, that he was likely looking at a class being jettisoned off the cliff. Now Beacon was REALLY reminding him of the Saiyans.

"Well, whatever's going on, I probably shouldn't butt in. Buuuut, it could still be fun to watch." Gula thought aloud.

He picked up his jogging pace and lightly hopped up into the trees where be began to casually leap from branch to branch. As he went, he could hear gunfire and the sounds of Grimm. However, he beat down the Saiyan instinct to find the Grimm and punch them. Assuming that this was some sort of lesson, he didn't want to screw the class over by interfering. Of course, that ignored the obvious heaps of trouble he would get in. That old man who had offered him a position there (Was his name Oxpin?) would probably have a pile of winking jokes for him. That would be a special kind of torture. Not to mention he'd probably have to deal with a bunch of teachers and students asking him why he wasn't studying at Beacon, considering Ozpin had offered him a free position, the prospect of which made Gula wonder that, should such an event come to pass, would Beacon still be there, or would it would be replaced with a smoking crater?

Well, as long as he kept out of Beacon's affairs and no one could drag him up to the academy, that event wouldn't happen. Gula slowed down on his tree hopping as the sounds of combat grew quiet and he began listening carefully. He didn't want to be discovered, after all.

Soon, he came across a pair of teens tromping through the forest. Gula frowned when he saw them. One of them was exceptionally tall and had immaculately combed burnt-orange hair, blue eyes and an overconfident smirk that seemed permanently plastered to his face, revealing blazingly white teeth. He wore armor that looked more ornamental than anything, with a bird emblem cast on the chest-piece and had a mace of sorts slung casually over his shoulder. The other one was dressed in a green hoodie with the sleeves ripped off, a white long-sleeve shirt underneath, jeans and brown boots. His green hair was shaved off, save for a fin of sorts centered in the middle of his scalp. He also had brown eyes. His weapons were a pair of daggers, which he also held recklessly. Gula shook his head. He had never held a weapon in his life, but he knew that this idiots were liable to lose their weapons the moment something spooked them. The only benefit to following them would be to watch them scramble for their dropped weapons the moment a rock hit the ground. Which would get old really quick. Better to find someone who had a proper head on their shoulders to watch.

Gula kept hopping through the forest, his ears pricked for SOMETHING interesting. As he kept going, he heard the screech of an avian Grimm, which he had been informed was called a Nevermore. Looking up, he could see the giant creature flying overhead, screeching incessantly. More than it should have been, in Gula's experience. In the few times he'd beaten up this particular variety Grimm, they weren't quite this noisy when they were just flying around. Then he was able to pick up the cause of the Grimm's incessant noise. It seemed that Ruby Rose, the same girl he'd encountered a few days ago, was currently holding onto the Grimm for dear life with a second girl, dressed in white, was holding on even tighter right behind Ruby.

"How in the… You know what, probably best not to ask…" Gula muttered in awe. Given what he'd observed of fully-fledged Hunters, they'd probably not being doing something this crazy. Then he remembered what little he knew of Ruby from their encounter at the police station, and suddenly the scenario didn't seem so farfetched.

"Alright, options. Do I do something about this and make sure she isn't turned into a bloody smear on the forest floor, or do I let this play out and hope that she _doesn't_ turn into a bloody smear on the forest floor?" Gula wondered aloud before leaping through the trees towards where the Nevermore was circling. Considering that Ruby and that other girl had been catapulted off a cliff into this very forest nought but half an hour ago, they'd probably be able to get down just fine. Well, assuming the Nevermore didn't dive after them and try to eat them. Then, Gula might have to do something.

Soon he reached a large clearing near some stone ruins. Gula could see several small statuettes on pedestals that were one of two colors; gold or black. Several of them looked to have been taken already. By the time Gula arrived, there were two more students at the clearing, both of them female. One of them was rather tall and had long, thick blond hair. She was dressed in a tan short-sleeve jacket that exposed her midriff, orange scarf, gold bracelets, black fingerless gloves, yellow crop-top, black mini shorts, orange socks, with the right one being pulled up to the knee, brown knee-high boots and a grey bandana tied around her left knee.

The other was a bit shorter and wore primarily black and white. She wore a white undershirt and black vest with coattails and a single button, white shorts, full-leg stockings and low-heel boots. She also wore a black bow on her head and had what looked to be a machete-length cleaver for a weapon, though the design of the hilt suggested it also featured a firearms mode. They were both looking into the sky at the spectacle of Ruby and the other girl clinging to the Nevermore.

That spectacle didn't last much longer, since Ruby opted to let go of the Nevermore and begin plummeting toward the cold hard ground and didn't seem to have a solution to the incoming problem of said cold hard ground. Gula was half-considering rocketing in to catch her when something flew from out of Gula's peripheral vision and collided with her, sending her flying into a nearby tree! It turned out that something was a scrawny blonde kid with a sword belted to his side. He was wearing simple white armor over a black hoodie and jeans, with white fingerless gloves. Gula frowned when he saw him. Despite him apparently attending a monster-killing school, the kid didn't look like he'd done much training, if any.

Of course, thoughts about this were immediately undercut by an Ursa bursting out of the foliage before an explosion detonated on its back, causing it to collapse forward dead, revealing a girl with short orange hair, turquoise eyes and wearing a collared black vest that ended at her waist, two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively under the vest. She also wore a white sleeveless top that formed a tiny heart shape cut out over her chest, with a white detached sleeve on each arm, matching fingerless gloves on each hand, a short pink skirt that started at the waist and ends mid-thigh, and shoes that were a mix of pink and white with pink laces. Her weapon appeared to be a grenade launcher, considering the shape of the barrel and the explosions. She was immediately followed by a boy with black hair with a pink streak in it, pink eyes and looking very out of breath. He was wearing a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that was red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. He also wore a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit and light-tan pants with black shoes. His weapons appeared to be bladed pistols of some kind.

The girl immediately zipped over to the pedestals and grabbed one of the gold statuettes before zipping back over to the boy at speeds that made Gula blink.

And then, the next spectacle arrived, with a new girl sprinting out of the bush like her life depended on it! It turns out it did, considering she was immediately followed be a gigantic insectoid Grimm with massive claws and a tail with a wicked-looking yellow stinger on it!

"Do not fight it, do not fight it, let them handle this, don't succumb to your Saiyan instincts and run out there to punch it…" Gula chanted to himself as his muscles tensed, aching to leap out of hiding with an enthusiastic bellow and punch the giant Grimm right in its face. Then he got a better look at the girl who was running for her life. She was easily a capable warrior by this planet's standards, based on how she was able to dodge the giant Grimm's attempts to grab her in its claws without having to look back at it. She was a tall redhead with green eyes and dressed in a brown overbust corset with a vertical strip of lighter brown in the center, an elastic black, A-line mini skirt and brown gloves on both arms, a red ankle-length sash that wrapped around her skirt, a circlet on her brow, bronze greaves that started below her mid-thigh before continuing downwards into her boots, as well as a pair of cuisses that began mid-thigh and ended slightly above her knees. She also wore brown high-heeled boots and a bronze bracer on her left arm. Her weapons appeared to be a sword and shield, but the sword was obviously more than it appeared.

Quite honestly, the back-to-back spectacles were hilarious to watch from a distance. However, it appeared that the blonde apparently didn't share his opinion, since she started shouting about the chain of ludicrousness of the situation before stopping, breathing heavily.

There was a pause for all of two seconds when Ruby poked the girl's shoulder and pointed up. Gula looked up and winced. Apparently, the girl in white didn't share Ruby's bravery (though said bravery could also be viewed as insanity) and had not jumped from the Nevermore. Instead, she was clinging to the creature's talon with one hand. Once again, Gula was weighing whether or not he should do something about that when her grip slipped, and she started falling. Gula's muscles tensed to leap in, but it seemed that the blond shrimp had things under control and leapt from the tree he'd just finished extricating himself from, catching the girl midfall. The landing wasn't quite as impressive, but it had prevented an unpleasant mess from being made.

Well, for the moment, anyway. The Nevermore was still circling and they had that giant insectoid Grimm to deal with still, which looked like an incredibly efficient mess-maker. Gula watched carefully before his eyes widened as Ruby rushed in and attacked it on her own! Her recklessness was swiftly punished when the Grimm swatted her aside before she could complete her attack. Luckily, it seemed to be enjoying the moment as Ruby managed to stumble to her feet in time to see the giant murder-bug looming over her, clicking its claws menacingly. She immediately fired a shot in its face before turning around and bolting back towards the group! The tall blond immediately began running out to meet her, but progress was soon hampered by the Nevermore, which had looped around and launched a barrage of feathers towards the two girls! Ruby's cape was pinned to the ground, preventing her from moving, and the blond was forced to stop dead, lest she be impaled.

The murder-bug took this as its cue to move in, tail reared back to strike. Once again, Gula's muscles tensed to leap in, but once again, his help was unnecessary, as the girl in white shot forward and created a massive wall of ice that entrapped the Grimm's stinger… SOMEHOW!

Was this the work of Dust? Gula wasn't sure, but it was certainly impressive.

Soon enough, all three had rejoined the main group and were running towards the cliffs. There was absolutely no way Gula was going to miss this, considering the madness it took to get to this point.

All was going well until the hit a set of ruins over a massive chasm. On the side they were trying to get to, the Nevermore had perched on the tallest ruins to bar their way. To top it all off, they still had the murder-bug chasing them. It was crazy that they'd gotten this far and not died, but Gula was beginning to think less and less that he should jump in. The kids had proven themselves pretty tough so far. The group made a run for the cliff, only for five of eight to make it across when the Nevermore plowed through the bridge, leaving three to fight the giant insectoid Grimm. Three of five of the group began taking shots at the Nevermore, while the speedy girl with the grenade launcher and string-bean turned back to look at the others trapped on the other side of the broken bridge.

What happened next was confusing and awesome. Apparently, the grenade launcher could also transform into a giant Warhammer, which was then used to CATAPULT string-bean across the gorge, while the girl with the Warhammer fired the grenade launcher function, launching herself along with him! After delivering an incredibly powerful blow to the murder-bug's head, the speedy girl retreated, only to knock the girl in black off the bridge!

Gula was all set to leap in and bail her and the others out when she revealed that her weapon wasn't just a cleaver, but also a mini-scythe attached to a long ribbon, which she used to SWING from a portion of the ruins up to the Nevermore, before trying to slash it to pieces! Unfortunately, this strategy didn't work so well, as the Nevermore just brushed it off.

Now they had four kids on either side of the bridge, each facing off against giant Grimm.

"Come on, surprise me…" Gula muttered as he kept watching. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to just give into his Saiyan instincts and utterly destroy the two giant Grimm, but he held firm. He'd only step in if it became absolutely necessary.

The team facing the Nevermore started unloading all the firepower they could on the Nevermore, only for it to plow straight through it, and the platform they were standing on, leaving them to once again fall to their deaths. Thankfully, they all seemed well practiced at escaping death by gorge, and managed to all find stable footing again, with the blonde using her bracelets, that apparently turned into gauntlet guns… okay… to attack the Nevermore.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bridge, the other team was running out of options, as the insectoid Grimm simply started attacking their foothold, forcing them to make a run for solid ground! As they did so, they managed to strike a few blows at the Grimm's face before the redhead revealed that her sword could also turn into a javelin, which she through straight through the gap in the Grimm's claws into its eye! Gula's mouth almost dropped from the accuracy of that shot!

Around this time, the boy in green had managed to get onto the creature's tail and was busy unloading as many bullets as he could into the joint between the creature's tail and stinger! After getting thrown off, the redhead launched her shield with pinpoint accuracy, cutting the joint through and dropping it straight down into the Grimm's head! This was IMMEDIATELY followed up by the Warhammer wielder getting launched into the air and blasting herself straight down and driving the stinger straight through the creature's skull, leaving the Grimm very much dead. They ran for their lives and jumped over creature and to safety!

"Okay, so that's one problem solved, how's Ruby's group doing?" Gula wondered before turning back to watch just that.

Apparently, the blonde was STILL busy unloading blast after blast upon the Nevermore, which made Gula wonder why she was still doing that, considering the number of shots landing didn't seem to be bother by them much. As it whirled around and charged the blonde, beak opened wide to eat her alive! The blonde's answer was to leap into the Nevermore's beak, hold it open and start unleashing blasts she could straight down its gullet! Gula almost winced at the sight. The Nevermore was led to slam into the cliff face, where upon its tail was pinned in place by the girl in white's ice powers. From there, four girls then made a giant, makeshift bow with Ruby as the projectile! Gula watched in awe as Ruby was then launched forward like a bullet, catching the Nevermore's neck with her scythe blade! She then ran up the cliff, dragging the Nevermore with her before catching it on the cliff face and sheering its head right off!

"Okay… wow. That was impressive." Gula murmured in awe. He still stood by his decision to not go to Beacon, but if this was what happened there regularly, that looked like it would have been a really fun place.

He stuck around to make sure everyone got up the cliff before making his way back towards his camp.

"Well, I guess this could be even more motivation to learn how to read and write…" Gula mused as he made it back to the cliff down to his camp and tied his training weights on before floating down at an easy pace.

Maybe he'd underestimated Remnant. Now he was eager to see what it REALLY had to offer.

* * *

 **And here's chapter 5 done! A big thanks to the RWBY Wiki for those clothing descriptions, because I do NOT know what half that stuff is called!**

 **Creativity: Really saved my legs!**

 **Author: Don't get comfy. We still have work to do on the wrap-up for Idea.**

 **So yeah, I kinda wanted Gula to at least SEE the initiation test, even if he didn't take part in it. Don't worry, we'll be doing the proper meeting between Gula and the members of teams RWBY and JNPR next chapter. I'm still just hashing out where I want it to happen. Probably gonna be a bit of a timeskip to some time after Jaunedice.**

 **Well, I think that's about it for today! See ya next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright! We're back! We're about a third to a quarter of the way through the second-to-last chapter of Idea (And it's shaping up REAL nice) so we thought we'd take a break and get to work on chapter 6 of Limit Breaker!**

 **Creativity: Oh man, I gotta get me a Conagher Relaxo system for my house. Maybe add a massage system to it.**

 **Author: There's a real price-hike when you bundle them, so be warned. Anyway, we finally have Ruby introducing Gula to the rest of her team, which I'm sure will be really fun to write. It's the second day of March (the day before I begin releasing the last chapters of Idea) that I begin working on this, just as a reference point if anyone's interested.**

 **I'm not sure if we'll see JNPR appear in this chapter (I'll probably find a way to work them in somewhere) But I do really want them to meet early on. I've got a few dynamics I think will work out really well there. Speaking of which, anyone have any thoughts on bits they'd like to see in terms of character interaction? I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear more!**

 **Creativity: Oh, you also wanted to talk milestones?**

 **Author: Oh, right. So, during February, we broke the record for most views on a story in a single day five times. I repeat, FIVE TIMES IN ONE MONTH we broke my personal record for most views in a single day. That is incredible. In addition to that, we are currently sitting at eighty-one followers and 48 favourites, which is two more records, and almost 4100 reads since launch, which is some thirty days ago.**

 **I have no words. I genuinely have no words to describe this. Call me repetitive, but I never expected that this story of all the ones I have written and plan to write would take off like this. So, let me give a massive thanks to everyone who's been a part of that. Thank you.**

 **And as thanks, here's chapter 6 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula yawned as he strode into Vale. He was taking another day off to explore Vale. He hadn't been able to do much exploring on his first couple of days, and he had felt a bit leery about going back in after seeing that Ozpin had footage of him destroying those two brats who'd pulled his tail. Staying under the radar was going to be much harder if the headmaster of a prestigious academy was keeping tabs on him.

Plus, he'd had the strange sensation that he was being watched for a long stretch after he set up a new camp in Vale's mountains. It wasn't around now, but it had been there for a few days. It was probably just paranoia after Ozpin's first visit at the police station, but he just couldn't shake the feeling…

Shaking his head to clear it, Gula made his way towards the inner city. He was feeling a bit hungry and wanted to try out a 'proper' breakfast as Garth had put it. After searching around, he eventually found a café that did breakfast and stepped inside. He wasn't dressed in his usual attire, instead wearing an ash-colored long-sleeve undershirt and dark-green short-sleeve tunic, ash-colored pants and black boots, and a blue sash instead of his usual green. He figured that his usual clothes might draw a few eyes to him in an establishment like this. He still had the suppression ropes, but they were only around his forearms instead of his forearms and fingers. He was eventually seated at a rooftop open-air table. After perusing the menu for a bit, a waitress walked over after taking an order from a couple seated in the corner. One of them, a female dressed in black and white, seemed vaguely familiar to him.

"Good morning, sir. Have you decided what to order?" She asked him politely. Gula took another glance at the menu.

"Which of these options contains the single greatest amount of food?" Gula asked.

"That would be the Hungry Hunter special, sir. It comes with four eggs, side bacon, sausage and ham, and three pancakes." She said. Gula looked thoughtful for a few moments.

"I'll take two of those, please." Gula said. The waitress' eyes bugged out for a moment.

"I'm sorry sir, could you repeat that?" She asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"I'll get two Hungry Hunter specials, please." He repeated. The waitress just continued to stare at him.

"Are you waiting for someone, sir? I can always come back if that's the case." She said. Gula shook his head.

"Nope, just me. I have a high metabolism." He replied. He'd probably be more irritated by this, if he didn't find the reaction of the waitress and a couple of the other patrons hilarious.

"Oh… Okay sir. Uhm… How do you want your eggs?" She asked, a bit of a stutter in her voice. Gula looked contemplative for a moment.

"What are the options?" He inquired. The waitress seemed delighted to have a distraction from the crazy order she'd just received.

"Well, there's poached, boiled, scrambled, fried, and varying levels on how you prefer them for the boiled and fried. I personally recommend soft-boiled and over-easy respectively." She suggested. Gula looked contemplative for a moment.

"I'll two of each type, with your suggestions taken into account." He decided. The waitress wrote that down and hurried downstairs. Gula reclined and waited patiently for his food to arrive. He decided to spend the time contemplating new techniques. Well, that's what he started on, anyway. Afterwards, it changed to thinking about the projectile attack he was trying to perfect for a few weeks now. He could feel he was close to figuring it out, but it had been painful trying to get there, with most of his attempts literally blowing up in his face. The ones that didn't just didn't have the power he was looking for.

The main issue was the compression. He'd gotten gathering the necessary energy for an attack down to a science. However, when he tried to condense it for maximum destructive output, it detonated in his face or wasn't compressed enough for the sort of opponents he was developing such an attack to fight. He didn't need attacks like this to deal with someone on Remnant, at least so far as he knew. However, if the Frieza Force showed up, he needed to be as ready as he could be. He wasn't worried about potential Saiyan infiltration babies. With the moon being broken, the Oozaru form was inaccessible unless a Saiyan knew how to create a power ball, which a baby wouldn't. No, what he was worried about was a proper invasion force. That would take techniques that he didn't have yet, save for Riot Session, which was only really useful for a one on one battle. He still had the handful of techniques that he'd picked up from his family, but he didn't have the energy reserves to make efficient use of them. Hence, he had to come up with his own tricks to compensate until his power was great enough to make proper use of all his knowledge.

As he continued to contemplate the problems he was having with his projectile attack (He'd taken to calling it Comet Shot) he couldn't help but overhear the couple talking about the White Fang. He cracked open his eyes to take a closer look and realized that one of them, the male, was a monkey Faunus. Then his Saiyan senses drew him to the bow that the female wore on her head. He could have sworn his eyes were playing tricks on him, but it appeared to be twitching. Could she…?

"Here's your food sir."

Gula's thoughts were immediately interrupted by the two enormous plates of food laid out for him. The scent had him salivating instantly.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." He said a bit mechanically as he continued to stare at the food as he unconsciously reached for his knife and fork. The waitress nodded numbly and immediately went to the next table as fast as she could.

The carnage was swift and vicious.

Gula devoured the food on his plate with a good deal of restraint, since he wanted to savor the food, but it still was difficult to keep the Saiyan's appetite from overpowering his table manners.

It was almost as if the universe paused, as all eyes within the café turned to watch in awe as Gula finished massacring the bacon, then turned to the pancakes. Those lasted all of three minutes before the eggs and sausage were next. After a brief pause to breath, appreciate the food and take a sip of water, he immediately dove back in, polishing off the rest of the food in minutes! Each plate was picked clean of crumbs.

After patting his stomach with a contented sigh, Gula stood up and waved down the waitress for the bill. Once it was paid, he stood up and set out for another day. He was walking through the commercial district when someone ended up running into him. Quite literally, in fact.

Gula rubbed his arm a bit in annoyance before looking down at the person who had collided with him, only to be surprised by Ruby, who was knocked on her backside, rubbing her forehead. Standing behind her were a tall blonde and a girl with platinum blonde hair and dressed in a strapless white dress and bolero jacket with red lining and some sort of tiara in her offset ponytail.

"Ruby? What are you doing here?" Gula asked as he offered her a hand up.

"Ow, jeez who put a lamp post there?" Ruby muttered before realizing what, or who she was talking to.

"Yikes! Sorry about that! Wait, you know my… Oh hey! Good to see you agai… What's your name again?" Ruby asked embarrassedly.

"It's Gula. So, who's this?" Gula asked, motioning to Ruby's companions. The tall blonde had a confident look on her face as she smiled at him. The girl in white looked at him distrustfully, and with a small hint of a distain. He wasn't quite sure whether it was something specifically about him, or whether or not it was just something of a default for her.

"Oh, this is Yang and Weiss. We're on the same team at Beacon! Yang's my sister and Weiss is my partner." Ruby explained with barely contained enthusiasm.

"Wait, you said your name is Gula? Are you the same Gula my sister was telling me skipped out on Ozpin's offer to go to Beacon?" Yang asked, to which the Weiss tripped and stumbled.

"You turned down an offer to go to Beacon extended by professor Ozpin himself!?" She just about shrieked.

"Oh god, it's happening again…" Gula groaned as he rubbed his temples.

"Yes, I did get an offer, and yes I rejected it. Can we please move on? Please? I'm REALLY tired of people fixating on that." He begged/growled. He was getting sick and tired of that particular object of conversation.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Figured you'd be at Beacon." Gula asked, eager to steer the conversation away from him saying no to Ozpin.

"Well, we're looking for our teammate, Blake. She ran off last night." Ruby explained quietly. It sounded like there was more to it than that, especially when Weiss huffed and looked away, which was followed by Yang shooting her a glare in response.

"Ah. Well, maybe I can help. What does she look like?" Gula inquired. Ruby looked up with an almost cartoonish look of gratefulness on her face.

"Well she wears black and white, has a bow on her head and carries an awesome cleaver, katana, kusarigama and pistol weapon…" Gula could sense that Ruby was about to fly off on a tangent about Blake's weapon and saw fit to nip that monologue in the bud.

"Ruby, I don't think weapon specs are very helpful right now." Gula said a bit loudly to break her out of her spell.

"Right, sorry. I'm a bit of a weapons dork." She said while rubbing the back of her head, embarrassed. Then it clicked.

"Wait a minute… I think I saw her earlier today! I was getting breakfast at a café and I'm pretty sure I saw her sitting in the corner, talking to a monkey Faunus." Gula shared, caused Ruby to jump up and fist pump.

"Yeah, but that was probably a few hours ago, right? She could be anywhere in the city now." Weiss mentioned, causing Ruby to immediately deflate.

"Like you're actually invested in finding her…" Yang muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Gula's eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them. Something most have gone pretty wrong for a team to get this dysfunctional this quickly.

"I heard them talking about the White Fang. Just small snippets, since I wasn't exactly paying attention. Long shot, maybe they're gonna go looking for them?" Gula suggested. Weiss seemed to seize on that a bit too much.

"Did you hear why?!" She asked loudly. Gula waved her down a bit.

"Easy, there. I think I might have heard something about 'proof', but I don't have any clue what it could mean. Anything you guys can think of?" Gula asked. None of them had an answer for him, unfortunately. Gula shrugged.

"Well, that's all I got. So, what was your original plan to find her?" Gula continued.

"Well… Search Vale until we find her?" Ruby explained. Gula's stare became deadpan.

"You didn't really think about this much, did you." He responded in a tone matching his expression.

"We woke up this morning and she was missing! She wasn't in Beacon, so we figured she was somewhere in Vale… Leave me alone…" Ruby exclaimed before devolving to mumbling. Gula shook his head.

"Well, you three probably have a better idea of where to look than I do. Any suggestions?" Gula invited.

"You know who might be able to help? The police." Weiss responded pointedly.

" _Jeez, what happened?"_ Gula wondered. Immediately an argument sprang up around Blake's disappearance. Whatever had caused her to run off in the first place appeared to be related to an ongoing disagreement with Weiss. Gula could sympathize. Weiss's aura of snootiness definitely made her a bit off-putting. What's more, it seemed that Weiss was becoming increasingly frustrated by the fact that no one seemed to be on her side in this, whatever that side was.

And then, an interruption arrived.

"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!" Weiss shot back at Yang. Gula hadn't really been paying attention to the rest of the argument.

"And I think Weiss's hair looks wonderful today!"

Gula spun around to see a girl with orange hair and green eyes, dressed in a white shirt, gray skirt and black stockings. She also was wearing a backpack that looked entirely too small to be practical, but Gula had learned that on Remnant, appearances could be deceiving.

Another conversation started again, which Gula tuned out as he tried to come up with something approaching a plan to search for Blake with the very limited information they had to go on. All they knew was that she and whoever she was with were searching for the White Fang. Thus, it might be a good strategy to try and find where the White Fang were, and therefore find Blake.

Of course, this all assumed that Blake knew where to look and would find them at all.

"… Gula? You agree?"

Gula snapped back into reality the moment he was addressed.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. Mind repeating that?" Gula asked, rubbing the back of his head. Ruby puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

"I was saying, why don't you go with Weiss and Yang while I go with Penny. Split up and cover more ground, you know?" Ruby explained. Gula shrugged.

"I don't see why not." Gula replied.

"Great! We should probably exchange scroll numbers to keep in contact." Ruby suggested as she reached into her pocket for her scroll. Gula rubbed the back of his head again.

"I… ah, don't have a scroll." He explained. This led to all three girls stumbling, gobsmacked expressions on their faces.

"Okay, let me make sure I heard you right. You just said you don't have a scroll." Weiss spluttered. Gula shrugged.

"That is what I said." Gula responded.

"But… Everyone has a scroll." Ruby muttered, completely flabbergasted.

"Well, obviously not everyone. I don't." Gula replied.

"Nothing about you makes sense…" Yang stated, to which Gula could barely conceal a grin.

" _Oh, you have no idea."_ He thought before looking up.

"Unless I'm much mistaken, we're burning daylight. Unless you want to go back to Beacon without your teammate or sleep in the city, I suggest we get a move on." Gula suggested. Ruby checked her scroll and let out a small yelp.

"Alright, see you guys soon and hope you all get along bye!" Ruby called out quickly before running off down the street with Penny in tow. Gula blinked a few times before turning back to Ruby's team, who he had just been left with.

"I'm starting to think one of you probably should have gone with her…" He muttered aloud, to which he could hear vague sounds of agreement.

"So, any ideas on where to start, or should we just pick a direction and walk?" Gula asked. Yang shrugged.

"Pick a direction, I say. It's not like we have much to go on." She suggested. It seemed Weiss had other ideas.

"Well, to me it sounds like the best we have right now is the White Fang, and they've apparently been robbing Dust shops as of late. Maybe we should start there?" She suggested. Yang looked at her funnily.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to be helpful." Yang remarked before starting down the street. Weiss marched after her, leaving Gula to catch up.

"Okay, it's none of my business, but it sounds like something went very wrong among you four." Gula remarked.

"Yeah, no kidding." Yang responded with a hint of bitterness. Weiss stuck her nose up a bit.

"I am not the one at fault here!" She growled, as if daring either of them to challenge her.

"I never said you were. I mean, I don't even know what's going on, so how could I pass judgement on it?" Gula responded. Weiss didn't seem to take notice. In fact, she seemed to be doing whatever she could to pretend he wasn't there. Was she always like this?

"So, Ruby mentioned she'd met a _boy_ when Ozpin let her into Beacon! Why not tell me a little bit about yourself? I like to vet the guys my baby sister hangs out with." She began. Her tone seemed light and breezy, but there was almost an undertone of a threat in it.

"I wouldn't say we hang out. We only met the one time and only said two or three lines to each other. Really, I don't even know why we were both being interrogated at the same time." Gula responded offhandedly.

"Interrogated? What do you mean, interrogated?" Weiss asked sharply.

"I got arrested after I stopped a Faunus couple from being mugged at knife point. The same guys that did it also pulled my tail earlier that day." Gula answered. His tail, which he had curled around his waist, slightly hidden under his sash, twitched at the memory. Weiss noticed the furry appendage peaking out from under the sash and her eyes narrowed. Gula suddenly got the feeling that she was going to have a problem with him.

"You assaulted someone, and they just let you out!?" She exclaimed, her hand unconsciously dropping to the rapier at her side. Gula ignored the action.

"Okay, I may have gone a little overboard, but they definitely had it coming. Setting aside the personal grudge I had against them, I literally happened upon them ready to carve up some teenaged Faunus' faces. Are you really going to try and defend that?" He said pointedly. Weiss spluttered in response but seemed to think better of trying. She did look pretty steamed about it though.

"So, why do you hide your tail?" Yang asked offhandedly. Gula shrugged.

"Up until recently, I didn't. I actually live near the mountains in Mistral, not fair from a village. I decided like doing some travelling and found my way here. There wasn't any need for me to hide my tail in Mistral, but after that incident where it got pulled, I've erred on the caution and kept it wrapped around my waist wherever possible. You two may not have tails, but I don't think you need them to know that getting it yanked isn't exactly the most pleasant of sensations." He answered.

"Wait, you're from Mistral? You live in the forest?!" Weiss all but shrieked. Gula winced and covered one of his ears.

"Why is that such a big deal, exactly?" Gula muttered as he tried to clear his ear of the ringing.

"What are you, some kind of wild man?! How are you still alive?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I'm fast, I'm strong and I know how to fight. Honestly, I don't have Grimm problems that often, if that's what you're wondering. Plus, if things genuinely got bad, I always have that nearby village I mentioned to retreat to." Gula explained. Neither Weiss or Yang appeared to be buying it, but Gula didn't care. Though, Yang did seize on one thing.

"You say you know how to fight, eh? How about after we find Blake, we find out just how much you know?" She challenged. Gula managed to keep from instantly answering in the positive, but only barely.

"Let's focus on finding Blake before we start arranging a fight." Gula suggested as they kept wandering Vale, searching for Blake.

It was actually starting to get rather late and the sun was dipping below the horizon. He and Yang had chatted a fair bit, with Weiss keeping aggressively quiet. At least, until about now.

"I can't take it! How are you taking this so well! He's fully admitted that he assaulted two adolescents! I can't for the life of me understand how you are so, so… Fine with it!" Weiss finally shouted a Yang, who seemed a bit surprised by the outburst.

"Well, it probably helps that I've kinda done the same thing, but much bigger and more awesome." Yang responded, a hint of smugness in her voice at the end of the sentence.

"Besides, would you have cared so much if he wasn't a Faunus?" Yang asked pointedly, to which, Weiss looked scandalized.

"Of course I would have! It isn't acceptable behaviour to just go around beating up teenagers, regardless of what unsavory acts they may or may not be partaking in!" She responded shrilly.

"Uhm, if that's your take on it, you might be planning to go into the wrong profession, princess." Gula snarked.

"And besides, don't think I haven't seen you constantly glancing at my tail since you found out about it, or how you seem determined to criminalize me for stopping two Faunus from being mugged. I mean, the police let me go with no strings attached, aside from Ozpin telling me to not cause any more trouble. It's not as if I'm in the White Fang or anything." Gula continued.

"Well, what are your thoughts on the White Fang?" Weiss asked him, heatedly. Gula paused to consider it for a moment.

"Honestly, I don't really know much about them, aside from some vague knowledge about their early history and what they are now. We don't exactly get news out in the Mistral wilds, so I'm not exactly up-to-date on how bad the damage they cause is, so I'm not sure where to draw conclusion on that count. I will say this though. On my first in Vale, I found three rich kids ready to beat up a pretty poor-looking Faunus kid, which I stopped. Might I add that no one even noticed or seemed to care until I stepped in, and only noticed and cared to watch as a form of spectacle. And before you ask, no I did not beat them up. I just humiliated them by dodging all of their attacks and tripping them a bit. Anyway, the second day I already told you about. I got my tailed pulled and found the same people who pulled it ready to put a knife to a Faunus couple. I don't know about you, but if I was a Faunus living in the big city and not isolated from the rest of the world, and was forced to put up with that every day of my life, I'd probably want to get back at the attackers and everyone who allowed it to happen. Really makes me glad I lived isolated for as long as I have." Gula said pointedly. Weiss visibly cringed back, most of the fire seemingly gone. She opened her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by an explosion in the distance. It appeared to be at the docks. All three of them looked in that direction.

"Twenty lien says we find Ruby there." Gula muttered before breaking into a run and leaping into the air and planting his feet on a nearby building and jumping to the rooftops on the opposite side of the street! He began running and leaping from roof to roof, keeping just slow enough to not break believability. At least, until he was sure that Yang and Weiss couldn't see him anymore, at which point he began to snap-vanish his way across several rooftops at once. In under two minutes, he'd made it all the way to the docks, where he found Ruby, Penny, Blake and the Faunus boy that he'd seen Blake with at the café. They were currently facing down a small group of people in matching uniforms and masks, as well as a man dressed in a fancy suit and hat, with a cane pointed at the group of them. Gula could see that mister well-dressed was aiming the cane at Ruby, who wasn't paying attention, as she was occupied blocking bullets from the people in the masks. Suddenly, a glowing orange projectile rocketed out of the end of the cane, straight towards Ruby!

"Damn it!" Gula shouted as he rocketed off the rooftop, snap-vanishing in front of Ruby just in time to back-hand the blast into the ocean! There was a pause as everyone registered Gula's sudden appearance.

"Gula! Where did…" Ruby asked aloud before one of the masked people charged her, swinging a sword! Gula stepped forward and knocking the sword aside with the flat of his palm before slamming an elbow into their chest, sending them flying back! Not enough to break bone, but enough to wind them.

"And apparently, this is now happening!" Well-dressed shouted before running to a nearby Bullhead and climbing aboard in the chaos. Gula wanted to use a well-aimed Ki blast to prevent it from taking off but resigned himself to letting the thing go. Knocking the thing out of the sky was too eye-catching. It would already be hard enough to explain that little stunt of knocking that projectile away with his bare hand.

It was a few minutes later that the authorities arrived, along with Yang and Weiss.

"Big thanks for ditching us there." Yang shot at Gula, who rolled his eyes.

"Your welcome." He snarked back.

"Also, HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" She asked with far too much enthusiasm, seizing his shoulders.

"Um, maybe be more specific?" He asked meekly.

"Alright. How did you leap onto the roof like it was nothing, and then leave us in the dust while jumping rooftops?!" Yang specified. Gula was starting to feel very uncomfortable.

"Well, like I said. I'm strong, fast and know what I'm doing. Now can you please let go of me?" Gula requested, feeling a surge of relief when Yang complied, only to be replaced by Ruby suddenly materializing inches from his nose.

"ThatwassocoolhowdidyoublockthatblastwasitAuramani…" Ruby suddenly talking a mile a minute, causing Gula to lean back a bit. Thankfully, both Weiss and Yang came to his rescue, with Yang dragging Ruby away for him while Weiss began lecturing her on manners. After Ruby had calmed down a bit (ONLY a bit) she was permitted by Weiss to ask the question again.

"How did you block that blast with your bare hand?! That was awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. Gula fidgeted a bit. He hadn't really put much thought into it and hadn't used some special technique for that.

"Wait, you blocked a fire dust blast with your bare hand?!" Weiss exclaimed before seizing his hands and inspecting them like a doctor with a recently discovered specimen.

" _Does no one understand the concept of personal space?!"_ Gula exclaimed in his head.

"Yeah! He backhanded it into the ocean like some kind of action hero! Ooh, do you think you could teach Yang that trick?! She already has her gauntlets which would protect her, plus her Aura…" Ruby started rambling. After he managed to wrest his hands from Weiss' grip, he tried his best to answer.

"Honestly, I didn't really think about it that much. I just sorta… did it. I've been training to fight since I could walk, though I've been self-taught for the last six years." Gula explained offhandedly, trying to downplay it.

By this point, Blake walked over, and her eyes widened.

"Wait a minute, I saw you earlier at the café! You ate two Hungry Hunter specials by yourself!" She exclaimed. Gula braced for the oncoming barrage of questions.

"SAY WHAT?!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Where does all that food go?!" Yang asked in awe.

"How is it possible for you to get through one of them, let alone two?!" Weiss gasped.

"Wait, how do you even know about that place? You're from Atlas." Ruby asked.

"I visited the place before arriving at Beacon. I heard the coffee there was good." She answered.

" _Goodbye, spotlight. I hated you the entire time you were on me."_ Gula muttered in his head.

"Well, as lovely as it was to thwart an attempted heist, it's getting a bit late. Glad to meet you all, Ruby it was good to see you again, Have a wonderful evening." Gula turned to leave, only for Yang to grab him by the back of his shirt.

"Oh, not so fast. You are walking us back to the landing pads. You are way to strange and interesting to just wander off and potentially never see again." Yang announced. Gula's first instinct was to lose the grip and make a break for it but decided to try the non-violent method.

"Oh, come on. I just want to go back to my camp. I took time out of my day to help you guys find Blake, remember? Now I'm tired and I just want to get some rest." He argued. Weiss seemed to be on his side on this and Blake didn't seem to care either way. Yang and Ruby on the other hand, were not too keen on letting him just waltz off.

"Oh, come on. It's just a fifteen-minute walk from here towards the Agricultural district. You'll be fine!" Yang said as though the matter was settled. Unfortunately, that apparent route placed him on their path anyway, so it kind of was.

"Ah, don't be so shy! It's not like any of us bite! I mean, I can't promise anything about Ruby, but I'm about 90% sure." Yang continued as she started dragging him along with them towards the aforementioned Bullhead landing pads.

"Yang…" Ruby whined.

"Okay, 87%." Yang cracked, causing Ruby to smack her upside the head, much to Yang's amusement.

"Can you let me go, please?" Gula muttered.

"You promise to not run off?" Yang asked in an overly friendly tone.

"I promise that if you don't, I'm going to find another way free, and it will most likely be painful for you." Gula responded. Normally, Yang wouldn't be phased by this, but considering what she'd heard about him knocking an explosive projectile into the ocean with a backhand and seeing him reach the rooftops the way he did, she decided that maybe it was best to not take that chance. Especially when he really did sound dead serious.

"Letting go!" Yang announced. Gula straightened his shirt before rolling his shoulder.

"Thanks." He responded.

" _You know, despite all the questions, they really aren't all that bad…"_ Gula thought as they continued walking to the helipad.

"Now, about that breakfast I heard about…" Yang started.

" _I take it all back."_ Gula groaned. It was like that all the way back to the helipad.

* * *

 **And here's chapter 6!**

 **Creativity: I'm surprised we're putting this many out this quick and this long.**

 **Author: I know, right? So, what did everyone think? Didn't get to see team JNPR, but I have a few thoughts on that. But, those'll have to wait until next time.**

 **So, as I'm writing this last piece, it's March 4** **th** **. I just published the first chapter out of eight for the big wrap-up for A Very Bad Idea and am starting to hash out the retrospective that I'm going to putting on it after the last chapter publishes, which will be as soon as it's done. I'm currently on the second-to-last chapter, as I mentioned earlier.**

 **Anyway, I think that's enough from me.**

 **OH, quick correction to something I said earlier. In an earlier chapter, I said that Broly's monster friend was dead. That is in fact wrong. He just lost an ear because Paragus is a jackass.**

 **Alright, now I'm done. See ya next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright, here we are with chapter 7 of Limit Breaker!**

 **Took some time to think about how I wanted to approach this next chapter, and I think I figured it out. Well, part of it at least. Right now, wrapping up Idea comes first. Speaking of, we're about two thirds to three quarters done with it, and then we move on to the next big project.**

 **Which will not be this one. Despite all the longer chapters that I've been cranking out for it, this is still very much on the backburner for now. On the plus side, we're about halfway through the third chapter for Resurgence, which means we're half-way to releasing the next set!**

 **I mean, it'll still be a while, but it's happening.**

 **Creativity: Maybe keep it to this story for now?**

 **Author: Yeah, good idea.**

 **So, like I was saying, I'm pretty sure I've hashed out how I want this chapter to go. One thing I've been thinking about in regards to some stuff I plan to do in future is how to properly challenge Gula (Since, lets be clear, the only people who could've given Gula trouble were Ozpin, Salem and/or the maidens, and that was when he was 10) and I think I've figured out the solution. If the solution isn't presented in this chapter, it will be in the next and you'll know it when you see it.**

 **Another thing I've been thinking about is how I want to have Gula interacting with the cast of RWBY, since if they aren't interacting, then what's the point of the story? Again, if anyone has any specific character interactions to happen, let me know.**

 **Alright, I think that about covers everything. Let us begin chapter 7!**

* * *

Gula lay back on a rock in his campsite, idly picking his teeth with one of the bones from his lunch. He'd opted to take a few days for himself as opposed to assisting with Garth's farm-work, mainly to consider how he wanted to continue training. He was running out of suitably heavy rocks for endurance and strength training, and he was also starting to experience a similar problem to what he had back at his mountain in Mistral. Namely, that the Grimm had taken to avoiding him. Not that he could find any suitable Grimm to serve as training dummies anyway.

"Huh. For once in my life I'm actually too strong. There's an irony joke to be had there, but I can't be bothered…" Gula muttered to himself before flicking the bone into a nearby tree with such force, that it actually embedded itself in the bark like a nail! Yawning as he sat up, Gula closed his eyes and crossed his arms. If he couldn't find any way to physically grow stronger, he'd had to focus on technique until then.

He was still struggling to get the Comet Shot to work properly, but he could feel he was on the cusp of it. The last time, he had been extremely close to the power he was looking for, and the follow-up had been the least painful explosion yet!

"I wonder how much zenkai I've gotten out of these explosions…" Gula mused as he rose to his feet and stretched before drawing one foot back and cupping his hands at his right hip before turning ninety degrees. He began concentrating and felt the energy gathering between his palms. Soon it reached the optimal level he was looking for and he began compressing the energy.

"Please don't blow up, please don't blow up…" Gula muttered as he could feel the energy starting to push back. Then he felt it. The energy was just about to go critical!

"HYA!" Gula shouted before throwing his arms forward! The blast rocketed off into the distance at incredible speed! Gula could feel it. He'd finally realized the Comet Shot.

"Finally!" Gula shouted with glee! Satisfied that no one would notice, he rocketed into the air and did a few loops just above the cloud line in celebration!

"Alright. Now, what do I need next?" Gula wondered as he touched back down at his campsite. After finding a comfy spot to think, he spent more time considering what techniques he had at his disposal and scenarios they covered. Riot Session was excellent for one-on-one fights, Comet Shot was pretty universal (Once he had it down to the point where he could charge, compress and fire the attack within the span of three seconds or less), and he had his family's techniques, such as the Star Cannon. However, even if Gula had been born up to par with his family, the Star Cannon required a lot of time to charge and left one vulnerable during that process. Fortunately, the energy was projected in a bubble around the user, so it at least provided a small modicum of defence, but it still wasn't very practical as a go-to move. That was what the Comet Shot was for. There were a few others, but they were either out of his depth, or not that practical.

"Alright, I think I need something for crowd fighting. That probably means another projectile attack…" Gula began to muse as he started considering what sort of attack this would be.

Typically, crowd-fighting projectiles involved either a very large projectile/beam, a storm of smaller projectiles, or a pulse. The large projectile/beam was a bit out of Gula's range at the moment, as was the pulse, leaving him with only the storm of smaller projectiles. How to apply the concept though, while keeping within his limitations, was another story. One solution, obviously, was to make those limitations no longer a problem. However, until he could find some new way to continue increasing his strength, which would take quite a bit of searching to find, which he did not feel inclined to look into at the moment.

Deciding that sitting around wasn't helping, Gula floating from his seat and a few meters into the air before rocketing up into the cloud line again, deciding that going on a quick flight would help him focus on his next technique.

As he lazily flew on his back, creating small valleys in the clouds with his wake, his mind drifted to a different technique. He didn't have a name for it yet, but that wasn't important. The gist of the attack was dodging with a snap-vanish and immediately following up with two simultaneous Ki blasts. Plus, provided you put enough punch into them, it could be followed up with a Riot Session.

However, that still left Gula with the problem of where he was going to get that power. Solid idea in theory, simply not powerful enough for it to be put into practice. Yet.

Eventually, Gula dipped below the clouds and noticed he was getting a bit too far away from his campsite and looped back around, diving down towards the forest. Maybe he could find some Grimm to blow up as a fun distraction on the way back.

This turned out to be the case, as he ran across three separate packs of beowolves, three Ursas and even one of those giant insectoid things again, all of which he alternately punched, kicked or blasted to dust. He could see why they'd built Beacon so close to this forest and the accompanying ruins. The wide abundance of Grimm that were contained to the area made it the perfect training area. He was certainly getting his lien's worth out of it.

After a while, he finally decided that he'd decimated the local Grimm population enough for one day and flew back to his campsite, feeling much more relaxed, but still a but frustrated by his current conundrum regarding his training.

"Suddenly, I wish I hadn't buried my battle pod…" Gula muttered as he checked his rations. He was getting a bit tired of hunting and he had a feeling people would start noticing all the game missing. To that end, he'd gone to Vale and bought some non-perishables, which he had demolished three quarters of last night.

"I might need to start looking for more lien opportunities if I'm going to start hunting less." Gula thought aloud as he made his way to a nearby lake, where he proceeded to dive in and search for something to supplement the remains of his rations. It took a little longer than expected, probably because he was starting to put an actual dent in the edible population of fish in this particular lake. At least, where he typically fished.

After finding three good-sized fish, he flew back to his campsite and skewered them for roasting and starting on the last of his rations while he waited for the fish to be done cooking.

Maybe it was time to move on from Vale. Maybe he should go back to the village and visit for a while, help with training, then maybe go see what Mistral had to offer.

Oh, and maybe learn reading and writing while he was back at the village. That was increasingly becoming a must.

After he finished massacring the rations, he moved on to the fish, which didn't fare much better. A neat pile of bones lay next to him as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the mountain. He'd take a few days to think about it before making a decision. He'd been in Vale for a while now, and he was starting to get a bit bored. He'd picked over Vale a few times, and aside from a few interesting places to get food (He made it a point to go and get one of those sandwiches at least twice a week) There really wasn't much there for him, since he almost never lived under a proper roof or had access to things like electricity, water from a faucet or other such luxuries, he didn't have much use for any of them. The only thing that he could possibly see himself needing to get is a scroll, but that was pretty unlikely.

After taking the time to appreciate the sunset once again, he grabbed his bedroll and hunkered down for the night. He at least had his favorite sandwich to look forward to the next day.

* * *

Ozpin leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee and considering adding something a bit… stronger, to it. He'd been forced to put his investigation into Gula on hold due to the fact that the criminal element in Beacon was starting to get too bold for his liking. Especially with the White Fang involved. These were the hallmarks of someone about to make the opening salvo, and he couldn't afford to waste time investigating one wonder-boy when his long-time opponent was potentially preparing for a move on Beacon. Especially with the Fall Maiden currently incapacitated and missing half her powers.

This all couldn't be a coincidence. He couldn't afford to make any rash actions, but he also needed to prepare for a potential attack. He needed to prepare his students as best he could, but he was struggling to find a way to do so outside of just increasing the number of combat classes they took, but that could only raise suspicion. And it wouldn't solve the problem.

The incident with Amber had only proven that the Maiden power wouldn't be enough to stop these intruders. He needed something else. He needed a wildcard.

His first thought Gula, but he dismissed that just as quickly. For one, he wasn't sure he could trust Gula. He knew barely anything about his background and his outlook on life, based on what Qrow had reported on observation and Ozpin's own experience with the boy, was that he wouldn't care for the secret war Ozpin was waging. Additionally, he probably couldn't be bought or bribed to lend his aid to Ozpin's cause. Of course, he probably wouldn't side with the enemy either, considering he made sport of killing them. But that still didn't solve Ozpin's problem of needing something to counter Salem's increasing boldness.

It all kept coming back to Gula. Despite the fact that Ozpin was not confident in an attempt to get Gula to assist them or divulge the secret of his strange abilities, he couldn't think of anything else. Gula was something Remnant had never seen before, and it was driving Ozpin insane!

Then something clicked. Gula had mentioned he had been providing youth from a village he lived close to with rudimentary combat training. If he had developed an interest in teaching, perhaps that was Ozpin's door. The break between semesters was coming up, providing a nice time window… He needed to contact Goodwitch.

"Good evening, Glynda. Would you mind coming up to my office? I've had a thought regarding a… Guest speaker, I suppose is an appropriate term." Ozpin asked professor Goodwitch over scroll. It was some ten minutes before she arrived, looking not at all pleased to be dragged up to Ozpin's office after dark.

"Well professor, I hope that this idea of yours is a good one. I still have plenty of marking to do." She stated as Ozpin stood up and walked over to the window.

"Trust me, this will prove interesting. Do you remember the boy we met at the police station?" Ozpin asked offhandedly. Goodwitch's eyes narrowed a bit.

"You mean the boy who declined your offer to enroll in Beacon, who was able to effortlessly crack ribs with a single blow, showed no remorse for doing exactly that and also admitted to being completely illiterate? How could I forget." Goodwitch muttered. Ozpin chuckled a little at her response.

"Yes, he is memorable. Anyway, I was curious about the boy, so I asked Qrow to do a bit of investigating. Recently, he managed to bring back a few video recordings. I'd like to look at some of that footage." Ozpin continued before placing his Scroll on his desk, causing a holo-display to appear of Gula utterly dominating one group of Grimm after the other. Goodwitch's face continued changing to one of awe and disbelief as the footage kept rolling, capping off with a final shot of Gula launching some sort of energy blast from his palms that took out a Deathstalker in a single shot, while he was hovering in the air!

"Ozpin, what exactly am I looking at?" Goodwitch asked hesitantly after the video ended.

"Professor, you are looking at the guest speaker I was talking about or perhaps you'd prefer guest instructor? Either or works." Ozpin replied with an amused smile on his phase. Goodwitch was flabbergasted.

"Professor, I've seen you make some strange decisions, but I can now definitely call you mad." Goodwitch announced. Ozpin held up his hand.

"Hear me out, professor. Gula mentioned that he was teaching a handful of youth from the village he lives near to how to fight. Perhaps he could be persuaded to part with some of that knowledge to some of our own students. Here is my thought. We approach Gula with the offer to train a selection of our students, which you get to select how you wish, over the two-week period between classes. He trains them as he wishes, within reason of course, and under your supervision; Something extra-curricular." Ozpin explained. Glynda spent a good time considering it, before groaning.

"Fine. A terrible idea, but fine. How do you want to approach him about this?" Glynda asked, seemingly resigning herself to the fact that Ozpin would try this, regardless of whether or not she approved. Sometimes, she wondered why she put up with his madness.

"He usually heads into Vale on Fridays to a specific sandwich vendor. I suggest we try to find him there." Ozpin responded amicably. Goodwitch groaned.

"Your knowledge of his weekly schedule is a bit disturbing, professor." She ground out before marching back to the elevator. Ozpin mulled it over in his head. Perhaps so, but he felt justified, all things considered. He just hoped his upcoming 'lunch meeting' would work out. Considering all he'd seen of Gula's capabilities so far, he didn't want to know what would happen should things turn sour.

* * *

Gula strode through Vale, his gait indicating eagerness and anticipation. He rounded a corner and saw his destination. The open-air sandwich shop Gula had visited on his second day in Vale, run by a man named Gano. The moment Gano saw him coming, he could feel his wallet becoming fatter. As soon as Gula arrived, he reached into his tunic and removed his lien pouch.

"The usual?" Gano asked as he popped open the register. Gula nodded.

"The usual." He responded before handing over the lien. Gano immediately got to work on Gula's outrageous sandwich, having become well practiced at creating this particular order. Soon enough, Gula had his delicacy and left to find somewhere to eat. He wanted somewhere a bit more private, since he'd had a couple of anti-Faunus punks try to take his sandwich from him the other day. They never even laid a finger on it, of course. They found that out, as well as how painful joints could be went bent wrong the hard way. Still, he didn't want to deal with that again today. So, after looking around, he ducked into an alleyway and lightly hopped up onto a nearby rooftop and took a seat with his feet dangling off the ledge. After unwrapping his sandwich, grabbed the first half and admired it for a few moments before he began to devour it with his Saiyan gusto. It was only a few minutes before the first half was gone and he took the moment to stop, appreciate the taste, and then belch really loudly, not caring for the looks he got from the streets below. After another minute or so, he picked up the second half of the sandwich and prepared to take the first bite, when he was interrupted.

"I struggle to comprehend where all that food goes."

Gula spun around, nearly dropping his sandwich, but managed to save it. He turned to see the man who'd visited him in the police station. What was his name again? Something like Ox king or similar.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it." Gula called over his shoulder, disinterestedly. He was a bit annoyed that his lunch was being interrupted. The man shook his head.

"Oh, you haven't done anything wrong. At least, nothing that I would need to concern myself with." The man clarified as he strode forward, stopping a few feet behind Gula.

"Well, if I'm going to be forced to put my lunch on hold, I guess I should ask for your name. I can't remember it for the life of me." Gula muttered aloud as he packed up the half of his sandwich and stood up to look at the man, who didn't seem phased by Gula's attitude.

"Very well, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy. I already know who you are, of course. I would never forget the first person to actively turn down a position at Beacon." Ozpin replied, amicably. Gula eyed him carefully.

"Alright, greetings are out of the way. Now, why are you here? I'm not going back on my decision, you know." Gula responded. He hadn't been paying attention to it before, but something about Ozpin just felt slightly… off. He couldn't place it, but it was there.

"Oh no, I haven't come here to try and persuade you to become a student. You see, after our first encounter, you continued to intrigue me. So, I decided to do some digging, and said digging revealed to me that your skills as a warrior are incredible, well beyond that of even my best fourth-year students. As a matter of pride as a headmaster, I like to believe that my students gain the best training and education we can provide, but after hearing more about you, I can't help but wonder if we can do more for our students. So, I thought it best to try a little… experiment, shall we say." Ozpin explained. Now Gula was slightly more on edge. Exactly what kind of digging had Ozpin done? Plus, the way he was smiling wasn't encouraging.

"And, what would this experiment look like?" Gula asked, apprehensively.

"It's quite simple, actually. We want you to assist in training them." Ozpin stated merrily. Gula stood dead still.

"I'm sorry, I'll need you to say that again. It sounded like you wanted me to…" Gula started, only for Ozpin to interrupt him.

"Perhaps I should clarify. We want you to assist in a two-week training programme for a selection of student teams, selected by one of our teachers from volunteers. However, you would be handling the actual training. That gives you complete control over how to do it." Ozpin explained further. Gula thought about it for a few minutes.

"Look, that sounds nice and all, but I'm kind of looking to go back to the village soon, maybe check out Mistral Capital. Maybe another time." Gula said before turning to leave.

"I can offer monetary compensation, of course." Ozpin tempted. Gula didn't pause.

"I'm not gonna be bought that easily, Ozpin." Gula called over his shoulder.

"five figure compensation." Ozpin haggled. Gula wouldn't be swayed.

"No amount of money will get me to stick around." He said even louder.

"five figure compensation and credit for an all-you-can-eat location of your choosing." Ozpin offered. Gula stopped dead.

"You have my attention." Gula said, any trace of resistance to the idea having vanished completely. Ozpin smiled, though he was sighing for relief on the inside.

"Well then young man, I would say we are in business." Ozpin said with a smile. Gula didn't return the smile.

"Now, can you leave me alone, so I can finish my sandwich?"

* * *

 _Two days later…_

Glynda Goodwitch had seen Ozpin do strange and questionable things, but she was usually able to wrest some small amount of reason from them, if only in hindsight. This was not one of those times.

They were currently sitting at an open-air café across from the ruffian from just before term had started. He at least had the decency to try and look presentable. 'try' being the operative word. His clothes looked nicer than what they had seen him in before, but his hair was still the untamed mane from when they first met. It looked like the closest thing it had received in the way of being washed was getting dunked in a barrel.

"Alright, so you wanted to meet with me to hash out how this little… workshop, did you call it? How this workshop was going to work." The boy asked. Glynda resisted the urge to reprimand him for his tone of voice.

"Well, we thought you might have a few ideas. It will be you running the programme, with some light supervision from professor Goodwitch, of course." Ozpin reminded him. The boy, Gula she believed his name was, looked thoughtful for a minute or two.

"What exactly does training typically look like for them?" He asked. Glynda was quick to respond.

"The bulk of their training consists of sparring matches between each other, which can range from singles, doubles, triples, whole teams, or a combination thereof. We also have regular training missions in the Emerald Forest and Forever Fall, just to name a few locations." Glynda informed. Gula leaned forward a bit, a hint of a frown on his face.

"What about basic training for endurance, strength, etcetera? What about developing new techniques and refining the ones they already have? Is there a separate class for that, or is that something they're expected or encouraged to do on their own? And how often are they fighting matches? As in, how often does each individual person fight?" Gula asked. Goodwitch was surprised by his questions.

"Well, they have combat class every day for an hour and a half, twenty minutes of which is spent on lecturing. The fights typically last about five minutes, with a maximum of five minutes prep time before a match. That makes for about seven matches a class. One or more students will challenge one or more other students, so the number of combatants in one class is variable." Glynda answered after some thought. Gula didn't look too happy with this.

"I'm not exactly a professional hunter, or teacher for that matter, but it sounds like you're missing a critical component to the 'warrior' side of your school. To me at least, there needs to be a serious training component that isn't just fighting other people in a ring. The matches should be where you put that training and practice to use. That's just my takeaway though." Gula explained. Glynda's face tightened a bit. There were a few kernels of truth to his assessment, but that only served to make it sting a bit more. However, he at least had the decency to soften the blow by acknowledging that this was only the perspective of someone looking in, as small as that decency was.

"Well, it sounds like you already have an idea of what you want your special training programme to look like. Now we just need something a bit more specific. My my, this is more productive than I thought it would be." Ozpin replied in a chipper tone. How he was so optimistic about this, Goodwitch had no idea.

"Alright, here's another question. How often do your students have practical survival training?" Gula asked. That was a bit of a sore spot for both professors. The grade average was the absolute lowest of all the courses at Beacon. Apparently, their faces showed it too, since Gula frowned.

"That bad, huh? Well then! I know exactly how this little 'workshop' is going to play out! It's going to be boot camp! Exactly how far away from Beacon can you get while staying in the Emerald forest?" Gula asked. Goodwitch looked at him confusedly.

"I'd say we could get to the borders of the mountains. Professor Goodwitch, do you have any thoughts?" Ozpin inquired before taking a sip of his coffee. Goodwitch didn't like the idea of having her students camping out in Grimm infested territory, but she supposed that between her and Gula, Grimm wouldn't be an issue. Probably against her better judgement, she decided to go along with this mad scheme.

"What exactly should the students bring?" Glynda asked in a resigned tone. Gula thought about it for a moment or two before coming to his conclusion.

"Their weapons, obviously. I'd recommend one set of cooking and eating utensils per team, whatever clothes they feel they'll need for two weeks in the wilderness, make sure its stuff that isn't going to make things unnecessarily hard as well. I met a few of your students the other day and I still can't wrap my mind around fighting in heels like that. Aside from that, sharp and durable knives, matches and or flint fire-starters, and a first-aid kit per team." Gula answered. Glynda couldn't help but notice an omission.

"What about tents?" Glynda asked. Gula looked thoughtful for a moment.

"How much confidence do you have in your students' ability to put together a suitable shelter before nightfall, starting in the morning?" He asked. Glynda winced. Gula took that as a 'not that much' and shook his head.

"That just encourages me to say no to tents. I mean, considering how little confidence you have in their survival classes, this could be good motivation to improve." Gula pointed out. Glynda thought about it for a few moments before gritting her teeth and grinding out an agreement. This boy was becoming very frustrating.

"Anything else?" Ozpin asked before she wore down her teeth beyond repair.

"Maybe have them bring survival and/or camping guides? It'll at least be a baseline… maybe? I don't know how to read, so I can't say." Gula reasoned. Ozpin nodded.

"Alright, I think we can take it from there. So, where would you like to meet the students?" Ozpin asked.

"Can you show me a map of the region where we'll be setting up camp?" He asked. Ozpin zoomed in on his scroll to the general area. Gula examined it a bit before selecting a clearing near a small lake.

"I'll wait for you there. See you in… what, three or four days?" Gula asked.

"Five, actually. I'm sure Glynda is looking forward to it." Ozpin replied with a mischievous smile. Glynda was tempted to smack him upside the head with her riding crop.

"Well, if that's all, I think I'll get going. Got some prep-work to do. See you in five days!" Gula bade farewell before standing up and beginning his trek out of Vale. Glynda continued to stare past where he had just been sitting.

"I'm struggling to comprehend why I agreed to go along with this lunatic scheme of yours." Glynda growled as Ozpin drained his coffee cup.

"Even if I can't get any new information about his… unique abilities, I have a feeling that our students will benefit greatly under his tutelage. Now, I believe we have an announcement to draft." Ozpin replied with that same infuriating smile as he stood up and made his way back to the Bullhead pad. Goodwitch followed him with a glower on her face. This whole scheme of his had better pay off, or things would get ugly.

* * *

As Gula finished packing up his camp site, he couldn't help but wonder how he'd gotten roped into this. Then he remembered the credit at an all-you-can-eat restaurant of his choosing and everything made sense again. He wanted a head-start on Ozpin's little 'workshop' as he'd called it. Especially if his 'students' (Still felt strange to think about it) were as inept at survival as the professors seemed to indicate. He found that rather strange, since the nature of their profession would often have them in less… hospitable locations than a city, or even a town. They'd need encouragement, and maybe a bit of handholding.

He'd have them making shelters, and possibly hunting for food, though he'd probably handle that the first day. He didn't want them to wake up starving on the first day of training proper after all.

As he looked around, he found a good for them to build their shelters. Now they just needed materials. He flew around the woods, collecting a wide array of branches, large stones and tough, yet flexible vegetation that could be used for constructing a decent shelter. Afterwards, he flew off to the nearby mountains and amassed several piles of rocks. Each pile was as tall as he was. Once that was all done, he flew into the forest and found several decent trees before kicking them down to stumps! Afterwards, he flew them back to the clearing and made a large ring with the logs before placing a ring of stones and digging out within said stone ring. He wanted somewhere for a bonfire, even if he wanted them to be making their own fires.

Having finished the fire pit, he started work on his own shelter. It took him a bit longer than he would have liked. Ironically, survival on distant planets was one of the few things his father HAD taught him. Or rather, allowed him to learn about. Nothing was universal of course, and his powers made it incredibly easy to find shelter instead of making it, but he was glad he'd bothered to read up on the topic.

Soon enough, he'd constructed a decent shelter out of a few large rocks he'd hauled down from the mountains, some spare logs he broke and split according to his needs, and some stripped bark to try and keep water out. He had no idea if it would work, but it was probably better than nothing.

After that, he went to find dinner and wait for his students.

"In the name of the Legendary Super Saiyan himself, what have I gotten myself into?" Gula muttered to himself.

* * *

 _Five days later…_

"Alright! Is everyone packed?!"

"Ruby, we packed and repacked three times over the last four days. Weiss made six separate lists. I think we're about as prepared as we're gonna get for this."

"Well excuse me for being organized!"

"Please stop being so loud…"

Team RWBY were making their way to the small group of Bullheads that would be taking them out on this 'field trip' that Ozpin had suddenly announced as a special training opportunity. The team had immediately been on board for the outing, though Weiss was made a little apprehensive once it became apparent that they would be roughing it. However, extra-curricular activities were too good to pass up, so she'd gotten on board.

Amongst the teams that had volunteered for this venture were Teams JNPR, CRDL, CFVY, and ABRN, as Ozpin had opened the outing to visiting students as well.

As they all piled into the Bullhead, which began its flight to the training grounds, they couldn't help but wonder who this 'special instructor' Ozpin had mentioned was. Whoever it was, they had to be some sort of special Hunter for Ozpin to bring them in as a special instructor! Ruby kept wondering if it was her and Yang's uncle Qrow, but Yang didn't seem to think so.

This question was floating around in everyone's mind before the Bullhead's finally touched down at a lake-side clearing, not too far away from what looked like a makeshift shelter. Someone made their way out of the shelter and looked up at the Bullheads. Someone who looked very familiar to team RWBY.

"No. Freaking. Way." Was Yang's first response.

"Him?!" Weiss all but shrieked.

"Didn't see that coming." Blake muttered. Ruby didn't say anything, though they did hear what sounded like the slow build of a squeal of joy, or the sound of Ruby springing a leak from shock.

Once the Bullheads landed, everyone departed and started looking around for the special instructor, not believing it to be the kid standing by the handmade shelter.

"Yo, kid! You know where the instructor is?" Cardin asked loudly. The 'kid' smirked.

"That would be me." He responded as he crossed his arms over his chest. He'd gone back to his sleeveless tunic but forgone the undershirt. He felt it better captured the 'warrior' image.

The rest of the students gaped at him.

"Alright, lets get down to business. My name is Gula, and I'll be running this special training programme. Let me formally welcome you to what will be some of the worst two weeks of your life."

* * *

 **And we're done! It's a little past 10:30 at night right now, and I need sleep for class tomorrow, so Ima keep this short. So yeah, Gula's going to be running boot camp! Plus, we get to introduce some of the other cast members to him! Isn't that fun?**

 **Creativity: Legs hurty… Brain hurty…**

 **Author: Okay, he's out of commission…**

 **Anyway, I knew I wanted him giving the cast some training. Not Ki training, though. If that's ever gonna happen, it'll probably be with the kids he's already training back at the village.**

 **This is just gonna be a… jumpstart, shall we say. Hope you all enjoyed. Now, the Author is gonna go take a nap… repeatedly… for many hours…**


	8. Chapter 8

**Alright! Here we go with chapter 8! As of this writing, I have finally, at long last, completed A Very Bad Idea! The final chapter, as well as the retrospective will be published on April 21** **st** **, so if you're reading it, now you have a definitive date!**

 **Creativity: That's 59 chapters total, including A/Ns and bonus chapters, and well over 200k words… My legs hurt…**

 **Author: You rest up. We got enough juice in the BTI to get me through the bulk of this chapter.**

 **Anyway, everyone's excited for boot camp it seems. I am too. I'll be drawing on a wee bit of TFS' Mr. Popo for Gula in this chapter. Not too much, though. We won't be establishing a pecking order. Besides, it would still fall under Popo's pecking order**

 **Not much to say otherwise. Oh, right! So, I've been tossing around the idea of starting a Discord server for my primary profile in general and my stories in particular. Plus a general chat because why not. Let me know if that sounds like a good idea and I'll go from there.**

 **Creativity: I think that's about everything. Shall we begin?**

 **Author: I believe we shall. Let us proudly present chapter 8 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Even after he agreed to Ozpin's little 'field trip', Gula had a few misgivings about training the kids from Ozpin's school.

He didn't have them at the moment though, as he was currently enjoying the flabbergasted expressions on his new students' faces. He especially loved the look on what he had taken to calling 'the armored squadron', even if it wasn't the whole team that wore armor. Still, it was three out of four, so he felt the name still worked.

Professor Goodwitch cleared her throat, causing all of the Hunters in training to snap to attention. Gula was impressed.

"Alright students, as you are now aware, this is the special instructor Ozpin spoke of. He is to be shown the same respect that is demanded of all your instructors at Beacon. Are we clear?" She instructed. The class nodded, though the armored squadron did so half-hearted and disinterestedly. They were going to be difficult, Gula could tell. Well, they'd try to be, anyway. He'd beat it out of them one way or another.

"Alright, before we begin, team leaders tell me your team names. I'll get your individual names while we're going through the first lesson." Gula instructed. One by one, the teams started introducing themselves.

"Team RWBY!" Ruby announced with a touch too much enthusiasm.

"Team JNPR, here!" A blonde, scrawny kid Gula recognized from his little 'outing' a few weeks back responded.

"Team ABRN." A tall, dark skinned platinum blond girl answered. Gula couldn't see any weapon on her and she had the air of a martial artist.

"Team CFVY!" The next leader replied. She had a pale complexion and was wearing clothes that looked entirely too expensive to be roughing it in the forest. Her eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses. Gula hoped she had a more practical set of clothes for the next two weeks, or else he had the feeling she would be a special kind of miserable by the end of these two weeks.

"CRDL." The biggest of the armored squadron responded. Given the confident smugness in his voice, Gula was only assured that he would be difficult to work with at first.

"Alright then! Well, first things first, you'll all need somewhere to sleep tonight! I gathered materials for you all to make a shelter for your whole team. That's going to be your first day. Each team will work together to build a shelter for the two weeks that I'll be training you. If it falls apart at all during these next two weeks, you have to rebuild it yourself. If anyone tries damaging another team's shelter, the offender and their team will not only rebuild the shelter but will also have to make it better. Oh, and I WILL know if anyone tries a stunt like that." Gula instructed. The teams all looked like him like he'd grown a second head.

""Well, get to it! You're burning daylight!" Gula announced loudly, causing all four of five teams to suddenly jump to and start heading over to the large pile of supplies he'd gathered. He'd added to it a bit since the first day. One notable addition was that he gathered several large rocks and carved them into bricks, mainly to serve as a good foundation and reinforcement for the structure.

"Oh, and if you need advice, feel free to ask. I'm not going to be handing out explicit instructions, though." He added as the teams scrambled for materials.

As the teams worked together Gula couldn't help but notice that that CRDL were suspiciously laid back about the whole thing. Then he noticed that they were all carrying what looked like an additional bedroll. Gula strolled over to see what they were doing and saw Cardin unpacking a tent. Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Gula strode over to deal with the matter.

"Good morning! Team… CRDL, was it? I couldn't help but notice you all brought tents. I thought I told professor Goodwitch that tents weren't to be brought." He mentioned offhandedly. The leader stood up to his full height, towering over Gula. Gula wasn't impressed.

"Funny. Can't say I remember her saying that. Boys, did Goodwitch say we couldn't bring tents?" the leader asked his team.

"Naw, can't say I do!" The one with the fin of hair responded. Gula looked faux ponderous.

"See, now isn't that strange? I don't see any of the other teams with tents. Do you see any of the other teams with tents?" He asked in an exaggeratedly confused voice. The leader of CRDL was starting to get annoyed.

"What's your point?" He asked aggressively.

"My point, my poor deluded student, is that you won't be getting away with jack shit as long as I'm training you." Gula declared in a low tone of voice. Faster than any of team CRDL could see, Gula snatched each tent bag from them before tossing them one by one into the nearby lake. The CRDL's looked at him with gaping mouths for a second before glaring at him.

"Are you seriously expecting us to build a shelter out of sticks and leaves like cave men? Who exactly do you think you are?" The leader snarled at him. Gula huffed at him before suddenly dropping down, sweeping the leader's legs out from underneath him and snapping back up to catch him by his collar.

"For the next two weeks, I'm your instructor, and I've been given free license by professor Ozpin to make your lives as miserable as I want to. So unless you want to spend the next two weeks sleeping under the stars, rain or shine, I'd suggest you get to work. Because unless it's a real emergency, you aren't getting back to Beacon for two weeks." Gula answered in an even lower voice. He then dropped the leader of CRDL on his back and strode off to see how the other trainees were doing.

"You're gonna pay for that." The leader snarled. Gula smirked over his shoulder.

"Hang on to that thought for tomorrow. You might be able to make use of it." He called back before finally checking in on the other trainees. RWBY and JNPR were doing not too bad. It seemed that Blake had taken charge for her team and was directing them on how to set up a good shelter. Something similar was taking place over at team JNPR's site, though to a lesser degree. It seemed both the leader and another member, one dressed in green with a pink streak in his hair, had some previous experience. He decided to go talk to them, since he had already met team RWBY once before.

"Hello! How's the shelter coming along?" He asked. The group looked up from their work rather hurriedly before standing up.

"It's coming along, sir!" The girl with the grenade launcher/war hammer responded, saluting him as she did so.

"Umm, I'm just training you. No need to be so formal…" He responded slowly, knocked a bit off guard by the girl's mannerisms.

"Sorry about her. She's… well, she's Nora." The boy dressed in green responded. Gula filed that information away.

"So, you must be pretty special if Ozpin brought you in as a guest instructor." The armored red-head began, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. Gula shrugged it off.

"Not so sure about that, so much as it was my specific background that made him think of this." Gula responded non-chalantly.

"What is that background, actually? I gotta say, I'm kind of curious." The blonde one asked. Gula shrugged.

"I don't see why not, but we should probably handle introductions first. My name is Gula." Gula introduced himself, kicking himself a bit for not doing so to the whole group.

"My name's Jaune. Jaune Arc." The blonde kid replied. The grenade girl, Nora he recalled, snickered to herself.

"You forgetting part of that intro, leader?" She asked in a voice that indicated she was trying desperately not to laugh.

"I am not doing that anymore." Jaune replied through clenched teeth.

"My name is Ren. I look forward to learning from you." The boy in green quickly interrupted.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos. It's wonderful to meet you." The armored red-head added, seemingly as eager as Ren to keep Nora from prodding Jaune more.

"Right. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren. Good to meet you all." Gula greeted properly. Nora frowned.

"Wait, I didn't introduce myself! How do you know my name?!" She asked in an over-exaggerated tone. Gula winced at the volume.

"Ren mentioned your name after you saluted me, remember?" Gula muttered. Nora's face scrunched up before de-scrunching with realization. You could practically see the light bulb turn on.

"Right! Well, it's great to meetcha!" She exclaimed with an over-enthusiastic handshake. If Gula hadn't been a Saiyan, he'd probably have a numb arm right about now.

"Right. Well, I'd stick around and give you all my backstory, but it's probably best left for dinner. Keep working on your shelter until then." He replied before heading off to meet the next group. If he recalled correctly, they were team CFVY.

Gula ambled over to see how the shelter was going. They were doing pretty good, all things considered. They could do with a few small changes, but nothing that would compromise the structure.

"Looking good so far, but I'd maybe add a bit more cover on those two spots there." Gula called out as he approached. The team looked up from the work and rose to greet him properly.

"I forgot to properly introduce myself. The name's Gula." Gula introduced himself.

"Oh thank Dust, I thought you'd said it earlier and I spaced out. Anyway, name's Coco Adel; team leader." The fashionista introduced herself. Then she leaned forward and tilted her sunglasses down and looked up and down at him.

" _What exactly is she doing?"_ Gula questioned in his head.

"Hmm… I wasn't sure about the ropes before, but they actually complete the whole 'reclusive martial artist' look." She stated. Gula looked at her, confused. He didn't look _that_ reclusive, did he?

"Coco, maybe don't go critiquing the fashion sense of a special instructor?" One of the other students, a female rabbit Faunus, meekly suggested. Gula shrugged.

"I don't really mind. Aside from the reclusive part, anyway. I honestly question the sash more often, though it is a good place to hide my tail if I'm going into the city." Gula mentioned off hand, his tail coiling a bit at the thought of it getting pulled again.

"But enough about that. I still need the rest of your names." Gula reminded the group.

"My name is Velvet. It's nice to meet you." The rabbit girl replied shyly. She was dressed primarily in brown, with a few small pieces of yellow and/or black armor. Her weapon appeared to be a box attached to her belt, but he had no idea what it could be.

"Fox. I look forward to learning from you." The next team member greeted. He had a dark complexion, red hair and white eyes. Gula wasn't sure if Fox was blind or whether that was his natural eye color, so he kept his mouth shut. Fox's weapons appeared to be arm blades. He also had obviously had plenty of battle experience, or a real difficult time mastering his weapons, based on the number of scars on his arms.

"Oh, and the big guy is Yatsuhashi." Coco added, gesturing to their final team member. The student was huge, dressed in green with armor plating on his left arm. His weapon was a massive, hooked sword almost as tall as its wielder. Gula looked forward to seeing it in action the next day.

"Alright, good to know your names! We'll talk more over dinner tonight. I still need to talk to team ABRN as well as finish up a few last-minute details for tomorrow. Oh, and food. Still gotta handle that." Gula bade farewell.

"Wait, what about food?!" Coco called after him, but he just waved. It was nothing to worry about.

He wandered over to team ABRN's shelter and resisted the urge to frown. They were doing the weakest of all the groups, sans CRDL.

"I'd recommend reinforcing the foundation. You don't want it collapsing on you overnight. Oh, and maybe try securing a few of those loose branches. That'll improve the structural integrity." Gula suggested once he was close enough. The team jumped when they heard him. Two of them apparently had been arguing over a manual, based on the way it went flying into the air.

"Yeesh, I'm not that terrifying, am I?" Gula half-joked.

"Sorry. Just a difference of opinion. Thank you for the suggestions, though." One of the students, a male with black hair, amber eyes and dressed in black and yellow, informed him. His weapon appeared to be a simple staff, though Gula decided to wait and see on that.

"I don't want to keep you all distracted for too long. I just forgot to formally introduce myself and wanted to get that out of the way now. My name's Gula." Gula introduced himself.

"My name is Arslan Altan. I'm the leader of team ABRN." The leader replied. Gula remembered her from the beginning of the day.

"Name's Reese Chloris." Answered the next team member. She was dressed in a purple hoody and shorts and small pieces of armor over her knees and elbows. Why it was just the knees and elbows was a mystery to Gula. She also had a pair of black marks painted under her eyes, which were green. She wore a confident smirk on her face, though it appeared to be a bit forced. Not surprising, considering the trouble they were having with their shelter.

"Bolin Hori. Pleased to meet you." Greeted the next. He was the one who had greeted Gula when he first walked over.

"My name's Nadir Shiko. Pleased to meet you." The final team member greeted him. He was dressed in a white and yellow short-sleeve jacket, black long-sleeve V neck, white fingerless gloves, black pants and white shoes. His weapon appeared to be a sub-machine gun with a blade mounted on top of the barrel, running the length of the weapon.

"Alright, good to have all your names. We'll talk more over dinner. For now, I have some work to finish up." Gula bade farewell before making his way back to professor Goodwitch.

"I'm going a small ways down the shoreline. I'll still be in earshot, but I can't exactly supervise. You mind making sure no funny business happens?" He asked. Goodwitch nodded neutrally.

"That is what I'm already here to do." She responded politely. Gula nodded. Goodwitch would be spending the nights in the one Bullhead that had stuck around. Gula's instincts had told him that trying to get her to even just tent would end poorly for him. He'd also relented when he suggested that all food would be hunted for, to which Goodwitch had strongly protested through Ozpin. He'd still be hunting for his own food, and he'd be feeding them tonight, since Ozpin couldn't get another Bullhead to make the delivery in time (It was a bit of a last-minute decision), but after that, he was only hunting for himself.

Gula's thoughts about hunting and food brought his attention to the fact that daylight was being burned and he had one last thing to finish up before it was time to catch dinner!

He hurried down the shoreline to a large pile of stone tiles, each 1.5 inches thick and 1 square foot. He had painstakingly carved each tile individually using his Ki. There had been plenty of trial and error, much failure and many Grimm blown to dust in frustration, but eventually he had all the tiles he needed. He picked up a stack of them and began placing them until he had a row of fifteen. Then he repeated the process until he had a fifteen by fifteen square. The process had taken him a little longer than he initially anticipated, and it was about a quarter past four when he finished. He probably could have done it faster, but that probably would have alerted his 'students' that something fishy was going on before he had a chance to fight them the next day, and where would the fun in that be?

After giving the ring a once over to make sure none of the tiles were damaged or missing, he grabbed a few spare blocks of stone and made his way back to the group. The shelters were coming along very nicely! Well, except for team CRDL's. They were trying to borrow ABRN's manual, since they hadn't bothered to pack their own. Gula managed to contain a smirk before placing the stone blocks down. After examining them a bit, he grabbed two of equal length and carried them over to a soft patch of earth. He then placed on vertically and pushed down on it, shoving it into the ground! He then measured a distance from it and repeated the process with the other stone block. He then grabbed the last block, a much longer one than the other two and placed it on top. He then went and set up a fire pit underneath the stone bench and subtly coated his hand in a red Ki aura. He wiped the surface of the table down, rendering it nice a smooth, while also making sure it was pristine clean. Taking a moment to admire his handiwork, he went and did a once over of the shelters.

Teams RWBY and JNPR had by far done the best. According to team RWBY, Blake was well practiced at wilderness survival and had taken charge of the situation. Similarly, team JNPR had a few members that were better prepared for wilderness survival. Jaune apparently did a fair bit of camping with his family before attending Beacon, and Ren had learned a fair bit about survival himself.

Next up were teams CFVY and ABRN, which had made acceptable shelters. He had a few nitpicks, but they weren't relevant. As long as they were insulated enough and wouldn't fall over at the slightest breeze, that was enough.

Then there was CRDL, who were still bumbling around like idiots. They'd gotten the manuals they were looking for, but they'd devolved to arguing. Gula shook his head. They'd made their bed and they'd be sleeping in it, one way or another.

As the teams started moving their things into the shelters, Gula removed his tunic and jumped into the lake, much to the shock of the onlookers.

For the next few minutes they were very concerned when he didn't surface. However, the fear turned to shock and confusion when Gula emerged holding two wriggling fish. Blake's eyes locked onto the fish and refused to break from them as he walked over to the stone platform he'd built earlier. He then proceeded to smack the fish against the stone slab a few times until they stopped moving. Satisfied, he turned and started heading back to the lake when he heard the sound of someone creeping towards the fish. His hand shot out and caught the wrist of one surprised Blake, who almost jumped out of her skin.

"Can someone keep an eye on her? I don't trust her to not steal dinner now." Gula called out. Team RWBY immediately hurried over and gently maneuvered Blake away from the fish, though he was pretty sure he heard a whining noise come from her throat. Rolling his eyes, Gula returned to the water and went searching for more fish.

It was a few minutes later when he emerged from the water, making a bit of a show out of wrangling one hell of a fish. The fish was longer than he was tall! He then hauled it over the stone slab and slammed it on the stone a few times before lifting it up again. When it wriggled again, he frowned and smacked it against the stone again.

"How did you haul something like that out of the lake with your BARE HANDS?!" Yang exclaimed as Gula kept trying to kill the fish via bludgeoning, though he still wasn't quite getting the results he wanted.

"I'm well practiced at it. Thanks for keeping Blake away from dinner, by the way." Gula responded as he slammed the fish on the stone slab again.

"That reminds me. I should probably go back and make sure she doesn't slip from Pyrrha and Ruby's grip. Seriously, we might need to get Arslan's help to tie her up at this rate." Yang muttered as hurried back to where Blake was being restrained. Gula, having gotten fed up with dealing with the fish's seeming invulnerability to bludgeoning, walked back to his shelter (Not too far away from his workstation) and grabbed a knife. Then he set about cleaning the fish. He was about halfway through one of the medium sized ones when the leader of CRDL walked over, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the fish.

"You don't seriously expect us to eat this, do you?" He demanded. Gula didn't even bother looking back at him.

"Not as it is, no. I haven't cooked it yet, though I might make an exception for you and your team, if you want." He replied as he removed a few more guts from the fish.

"I came here because I heard some bigshot Huntsman was supposed to give us special training, not to spend two weeks in the wild like an animal." The leader drawled. Gull still didn't turn around.

"That was your interpretation of what Ozpin explained. He only said there was going to be a special instructor and the fact you've repeatedly ignored professor Goodwitch's instructions for packing, don't think I didn't notice the snacks and alcohol you snuck in with your things by the way, as well as my instructions for your first day says, well, it all says that you saw this as just a method of getting off campus to indulge yourself in ways Beacon wouldn't permit. Do I have to bring up the alcohol again?" Gula fired back as he started cutting into the next fish. The leader of the armored squadron spluttered in response, trying to form a retort. Gula decided to keep pressing, mainly out of boredom.

"And before you get any ideas, such as letting Goodwitch find the aforementioned alcohol so that you can get sent back to Beacon, let me tell you that you aren't going anywhere for the next two weeks. Unless you want to get kicked out of Beacon altogether, which I and Goodwitch could probably arrange." Gula added as he finally got started on cleaning out the really big fish.

"Are you threatening me?" The big guy snarled at him, hand reaching for his weapon. Gula wasn't perturbed.

"Not at all. I'm just reminding you that YOU signed up for this, and you don't just get to back out because it isn't squaring with your preconceived notions of what was going to happen out here. This isn't a vacation. This is going to be two weeks of hell for all of you, and you aren't going to be exempt from it." Gula promised in a low tone of voice.

Realizing that Gula wouldn't be intimidated this way, the leader huffed and stalked back to his team. Gula stole a glance at them and the shoddy shelter they'd put together. They certainly wouldn't be having a pleasant night, that was certain.

Having finished gutting the fish, Gula disposed of the offal and lit a fire under the stone table. It took a little while, but eventually the tablet was nice and hot. He busied himself with frying the fish on the stone, seasoning it with some spices he'd picked up in Vale. He also had to contend with Blake, who escaped her guards and tried to steal dinner more than once. Normally he would have solved the problem much easier, but he instead he forced himself to pretend he was only barely succeeding until Yang and Pyrrha managed to wrestle her away from the fish.

Finally, the fish was cooked, and everyone was permitted to come and grab a fillet. Gula once again had to make sure Blake wasn't taking more than her allotted amount, with some assistance from Yang and Ruby. They all seated themselves on the log ring he had constructed where he started a fire in the middle. Goodwitch had brought a meal for her and Velvet, since apparently Velvet had a specific diet she needed to adhere to, though it made more sense when Gula remembered her rabbit ears.

Everyone ate silently. Gula could tell they weren't particularly fond of his cooking, and he could sympathize. While he was used to his own cooking, his 'students' were all used to having more varied and better tasting meals.

Still, if they were going to be Hunters, this was something they'd need to get used to. They wouldn't be spending all of their careers in cushy locations with kitchens.

After eating, Gula reintroduced himself and gave them the short rundown of who he was and where he came from (Obviously the version he'd been using since he'd crashed on Remnant, not that he was an alien that could blow up what was left of their moon). Afterwards, he got a bit more acquainted with his charges for the next two weeks. He obviously already knew team RWBY, having met RWBY twice and helped with tracking down Blake, so they kept relatively quiet.

JNPR was interesting, particularly their leader, Jaune. Gula could tell by looking at Jaune that he didn't have much in the way of formal training. He carried himself with an awkwardness that came from an inexperienced warrior. However, he could see that the kid had potential. Lots of it, if he dedicated himself to it. Ren had a quiet, carefully composed calm to him that he rigorously maintained. He was a skilled fighter, capitalizing on his speed and agility to outmaneuver his opponents and strike at their weak points. He couldn't be more in contrast with his partner, Nora.

Nora was loud, energetic and…loud. Very loud. Subtle, she was not. More than that though, she was incredibly strong, capable of wielding her giant Warhammer like it was a twig.

Then there was Pyrrha. Pyrrha carried herself with more confidence than the rest of her team. At least, in terms of combat capability. From what he had gathered, Pyrrha was a champion warrior at her old school. However, when talking to her, he'd picked up a few hints of… hesitance, for lack of a better word when it came to simple conversation. As long as it didn't interfere with training, it probably wouldn't matter over the next two weeks.

Next came team CFVY. They were definitely strong and experienced, though they were a year ahead of the other teams so that wasn't surprising. He didn't have quite as clear a picture of them as he did teams RWBY and JNPR, but he did have something.

He could tell from his few interactions with her that Coco would be… strange to work with. Not necessarily difficult, but strange. Fox came across as a bit similar to Ren. He was quiet and composed, though the scars on his bare arms testified to battlefield experience. He couldn't really get a read on what he'd be like to train, but he had a feeling that he and his team's seniority over the other teams would either make things easier or harder.

Velvet was a shy person. That much was very obvious to an onlooker. How that would affect training, Gula couldn't be sure, but he would hazard a guess that it would be negative to one degree or another.

Then there was Yatsuhashi. Gula just could not get a read on the guy. He obviously had great prowess as a warrior, but that was about all that Gula could pull. Well, he could tell that Yatsuhashi was very observant. He was constantly keeping an eye on his surroundings. There wasn't a tension in it, like he was expecting a fight, but it was there.

After team CFVY, there was ABRN. Through talk over dinner, Gula had picked up on some very subtle dysfunctionality. He mostly picked it up from Arslan, though he wasn't positive whether or not she was the source of it or merely reacting to it. She definitely seemed rather exasperated with her teammates. She came across as a bit bossy towards them, but Gula felt he'd need to ascertain where that possible attitude came from before drawing conclusions.

Next up was Bolin. Next to Arslan, he came across as the most capable fighter on the team. He had a feeling that he was Arslan's second in command or at least tried to act as such.

After Bolin was Reese. Gula had observed earlier that she had a confident attitude, bordering on smug. She didn't come across as a fighter like Bolin or Arslan did, but her confidence couldn't be for nothing, even if it seemed to be a bit unchecked.

Then there was Nadir. Gula immediately picked up on strong hesitance in his voice and body language. He wasn't sure what the source was, though he was leaning towards caution or lack of self-esteem, but it was definitely going to get in the way of training. He'd have to do something about it, starting tomorrow.

Then there was the armored squadron. Aside from one of them, a blonde with really squinty eyes and bronze armor, oozed contempt for the situation in general and Gula in particular, with a smattering of self-satisfied smugness. If he was going to get anywhere with them, he'd probably have to systematically break them down to the point of tears. Goodwitch would probably have problems with that though, so he'd have to settle for on the verge of breaking down.

Not even squinty, who seemed to be a bit of an odd man out among them, would be spared.

"Alright! Everyone off to bed! We get started properly tomorrow at the crack of dawn, so you'll want all the shuteye you can get!" Gula shouted to the group. He doused the fire and went back to his shelter. Everyone else soon followed. All was silent for all of five minutes before they heard the leader of CRDL curse very loudly, only to be shushed by the rest of the camp, sans his own team. Gula smirked to himself his mind turned to a patch of earth that was currently buried under his makeshift battlefield.

Despite his misgivings about this little enterprise, he knew that tomorrow was going to be very, very fun.

* * *

 **Alright, that's done! Didn't quite get to where I thought I'd get, but we got pretty far!**

 **Creativity: You really wanna have him mess with CRDL as much as possible, don't you?**

 **Author: I think people cued in on that the moment I included them in the roster. Oh, this is gonna be so satisfying...**

 **So, not much else to say here. Can say that I'm working on one of the three projects up for poll at the moment. Mainly just hashing out a general timeline to follow for the chapters. If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say that my next primary will publish some time in late summer or early fall, based on how I'm formatting my release schedule this time.**

 **Alright, I think that's enough from me. See ya next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, we got started on this much quicker than I originally thought. Probably because I know exactly where we're going in the story.**

 **Creativity: We gonna do some review responses today, right?**

 **Author: Oh yeah. Typically I just respond to reviews via PM, though if I'm unable to do that, I'll respond here. I do prefer to respond via PM though, since it's more immediate.**

 **So, mainly just one to answer.**

 **Ill: Considering all of the effort he's going through to NOT reveal that he's more than what he appears, blasting the tents would be very counter-intuitive. As for the hunting thing, I did consider that one quite a bit, though it was eventually scrapped when I remembered I had Velvet as a trainee and it felt a bit weird to have her eating deer, bear or any other animal. Also, setting aside that the only one I can think of that would know how to dress an animal would be Blake, I doubt that Ruby, Jaune and Weiss would have the constitution for hunting. While I do believe it could have made for some interesting character interaction, I feel I'd have been forced to come up with some logic pretzels to make it all come together sensibly enough, and those pretzels would have just been a drag.**

 **Doesn't mean I won't come back to the idea later, though.**

 **Creativity: Anything else to cover?**

 **Author: Hmmm. Oh yeah!**

 **We're getting to the end of the poll period as of this writing, so keep an eye out for that. The poll closes on April 21** **st** **, so get your votes in while you can!**

 **Alright, that covers it all! Now, I proudly present chapter 9 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

As the sun slowly rose on kingdom of Vale, a tranquil calm was in the air. The birds sang to the sun and the students of Beacon slept soundly.

This was all dashed upon sharp rocks the moment Gula grabbed the nearest metal objects he could find and began slamming them together while shouting at the top of his lungs. The reaction was instantaneous and priceless. Immediately there were shrieks of surprise, the sounds of weapons being cocked and general panic, followed immediately by reality setting in and the realization of how early it was.

Gula watched with a wide grin on his face as his trainees slowly crawled out of their shelters, rubbing sleep from their eyes and grumbling at how early it was. Of course, the smell of more fish frying helped to wake them up a little bit. When asked where they could wash up, Gula simply pointed towards the lake. Thankfully, they were too tired to argue and simply made their way to the lake to take care of their morning rituals. Well, all but a conspicuously missing four.

Gula huffed in annoyance as he moved the last of the fish off of the heated section of stone before marching over to CRDL's ramshackle shelter. It at least lasted the night, though he'd probably put them to work improving it after today's training. However, that wasn't what he was annoyed with at the moment. No, what he was annoyed with at the moment was the fact that they hadn't gotten up yet.

Poking his head in, he could see that they appeared to be pretending he wasn't there, and that just wouldn't do.

Gula grabbed the one with the fin-like hair by the ankle and dragged him out of the shelter, despite protests from the trainee. Once he was suitably close to the lake, He then grabbed the trainee by the back of his shirt and tossed him into the lake! As he was walking back to the CRDL shelter, he could see them scrambling out of the pile of sticks, desperately pulling their clothes on. With a self-satisfied smirk, he went back to the cooked fish and distributed it out. He was a little confused when he saw Blake being pinned to the ground by Yang, but then he remembered the fish from the previous night and it all made sense.

There wasn't much chatter over breakfast since as tired as everyone was, they were eager to get to the part that everyone had come here for: The training proper. Once everyone was fed and watered, they all hurried over to the stone arena Gula had constructed the previous day. Gula was already standing in the middle of the ring, arms crossed as everyone arrived.

"Alright, today marks the beginning of what you will look back on as hell. To start with, I'm going to spar with each of you one on one so that I can get an idea of where to start." Gula announced. He didn't see any visible reaction from them, so he tried a prompt.

"So, any questions before we begin?" He asked. Immediately, Weiss' hand was in the air.

"Are there any particular rules to follow for these sparring matches?" She asked. Gula mentally commended her.

"Good question, and thanks for reminding me! The win conditions are ring out. Attacks and techniques used to cripple and or kill are expressly forbidden. I feel like I shouldn't need to add that, but it's probably better to err on the side of caution." Gula stated, his eyes subtly shifting to CRDL as he reached the latter end of the rules before continuing.

"Use of weapons is permitted, including all functionality they have. I think that about covers everything." He concluded as he looked at his students from the center of the ring.

"So, any volunteers?" He asked the trainees.

"How about me?" a familiar voice carried over the group. Gula barely concealed a grin as the leader of CRDL stepped into the ring, his mace lazily slung over his shoulder.

"Alright then! Oh, it just occurred to me that I don't actually know your name." Gula mentioned as he made his way to the other side of the ring.

"It's Cardin Winchester. I'm sure you'll remember it by the end of this." The leader answered him in a smug, mocking tone. Gula knew he was going to enjoy what came next a lot more than he should.

"Alright then Cardin, you have the first move. Whenever you're ready." Gula replied as he sank into his combat stance. Cardin smirked as he twirled his mace a few times and sank into his own stance. Gula's mind quickly began dissecting it.

Cardin immediately rushed forward, weapon reared back in an incredibly telegraphed attack. Gula waited and bent backward, allowing the mace to pass overhead before swinging around and hopping back a couple of steps. Cardin snarled as he spun around and charged, swinging his mace in a haphazard combo! Gula bent out of the way of each strike before slipping past Cardin and giving him a gentle, one handed shove that sent him stumbling away, almost out of the ring! Gula hopped lightly from one foot to the other, smirking as Cardin turned around, seething with anger. He charged again, slamming his Mace down on the arena, causing a chain of explosions to surge towards Gula! He rolled sideways to avoid them before rocketing forward and delivering a blow straight to Cardin's stomach, causing him to double over, spit flying from his mouth! Gula then followed this up with a round-house kick to the ribs, sending Cardin tumbling out of the ring! He'd held back enough to not damage bones, though Cardin's aura was suddenly very busy fixing two large bruises. His pride on the other hand, wouldn't be fixed by aura.

"You certainly have the power, but you really need to refine your technique more. I could see every attack coming from a mile off." Gula critiqued as Cardin stumbled to his feet and stalked back to his team.

"Alright then, who's next?" Gula asked.

* * *

 _(Cue Metal Cooler theme from XV2)_

Gula's challenge was immediately met by Yang, who confidently strode into the ring, dropping into her fighting stance, a smirk present on her face.

"I've been wanting a chance to throw down ever since we met at the docks." Yang answered as her bracelets unfurled into gauntlets. Gula could see what looked like the barrel of a gun emerging from them and figured that they were probably similar to the Frieza Force's blaster gauntlets, though he couldn't see a trigger anywhere.

"Alright then, you have the first move." Gula replied as he sank into his own stance.

The mystery of Yang's gauntlets' firing mechanism was quickly solved when she threw a punch, launching a blazing projectile straight at his face! Gula bent sideways before jumping to the other side to avoid the follow up shot! He then began working his way towards her, avoiding her projectiles as he went. Once he was close enough, he rolled forward and popped back up, slamming his feet into her stomach! Yang grunted in pain but avoided being thrown out of the ring. She then fired both of her gauntlets behind her, throwing herself towards Gula! Gula was surprised by the technique, but not so much so to be distracted. He instead rolled underneath Yang as she flew overhead before she landed and whirled around with a wild haymaker! Gula smirked as he ducked under the attack and delivered two swift kicks to her back and front, then proceeded to sweep her feet out from under her and deliver a straight punch that sent her out of the ring!

Yang picked herself and shook her head, trying to shake the dizziness.

"Good form and power, but you left a few too many openings. Plus, that trick you used to close the distance between us could leave you open to some brutal counters." He told Yang, who nodded as she rejoined her team.

The next person to volunteer was Pyrrha, who was all business. She wordlessly stepped onto the platform, sword and shield in hand. The two combatants sank into their ready stances. The two stared each other down before Pyrrha threw her shield at him while spinning her sword until it changed into a rifle! Gula rolled out of the way as the shield bounced off of where he had just been standing and ricocheted back to Pyrrha, who immediately opened fire on Gula! He dodged each bullet with ease, though he at least made it look possible before leaping into the air and hurtling back down for a kick, which Pyrrha blocked with her shield! There was a loud _clang_ upon impact as Gula leapt backwards and began avoiding Pyrrha's counterattack. Her rifle changed to a javelin, which she began to skillfully spin, transitioning rapidly between all three forms as she pressed forward! Gula never let a single blow hit before he spotted an opening and immediately pounced, throwing a quick punch to Pyrrha's unguarded side! He immediately followed up with a roundhouse kick, though she managed to avoid it. Gula smirked as he pressed forward, throwing punches and kicks that immediately had Pyrrha struggling. Soon enough he had her at the edge of the ring and a swift kick had her out of it.

"Really good! Definitely on point! However, there were a few moments in the fight where there was some undue hesitance." Gula informed her as she rose to her feet. There was murmuring among the trainees as Pyrrha rejoined her team, seemingly still a bit shocked by the outcome of the fight.

Next to volunteer was Jaune. Gula eyed him carefully as Jaune stepped into the arena, sword drawn and shield at the ready. As he dropped into his ready position, Gula did the same.

"Whenever you're ready." Gula called out. Jaune slowly advanced forward, shield kept up. Gula decided to take the initiative and charged Jaune, throwing a barrage of punches and kicks and forcing Jaune back! When Jaune finally made to counterattack, Gula backpedaled, watching carefully as Jaune let loose a string of swipes with his sword. They certainly weren't up to par with Pyrrha, but she was already an exceptional swordswoman for her age. Still, it looked like it needed some work. Additionally, he wasn't exhibiting the same strength as all of Gula's opponents had so far. However, it was fairly obvious that Yang and Cardin both relied on their strength for their fighting style, so that probably wasn't a good comparison. Still, there was definite improvement to be made.

After deciding he'd seen enough, he proceeded to instantly slip through Jaune's guard and knocking him out of the arena.

"Rough around the edges, but you got a lot of potential. Also, you're not making enough use of your shield. I'd say between your sword and your shield; the shield is more important." Gula critiqued. Jaune nodded and returned to his team.

 _(End Metal Cooler theme)_

* * *

The rest of the spars went pretty much the same as the previous ones. Gula would let them attack him before he would switch gears and press them, all to the end of dissecting their strengths and weaknesses. By the end of it, he had a clear picture of where to go for the first few days.

He'd put thought into the areas he'd need to work on for the first few days and whittled it down to three; Strength, stamina and technique. Afterwards, he set up exercises for those particular fields, with light packs of rocks for endurance, heavy rocks for strength weights, and the ring for honing technique.

"Alright! Weiss, Blake, Ren, Coco, Velvet, Jaune, Dove, Russel, Arslan, you all are going to work on building stamina! Go grab a lighter pack of rocks and run laps around the campsite until I tell you to stop!" Gula instructed. Those mentioned went to the area where he'd deposited the weighted bags and collected them before doing as he instructed.

"Ruby, Bolin, Nadir, Reese, Fox, Sky, you all are doing strength training. Go grab the heavy rocks and carry them from the shoreline to the ring, then take a two-minute break before carrying them back. I'll having something else for you all to do afterwards." Gula told the second group, who went to the indicated area where the rocks were and started working on getting them off the ground.

"The rest of you, we'll be streamlining your technique. I can offer general advice, but it's all on you. I'll work with each of you one on one for a few minutes at a time. Partner up and change partners every few minutes. I'll be working with Pyrrha first." Gula concluded.

Everyone began partnering off while Gula and Pyrrha went off to the side of the ring.

"Alright, profess… Sorry, what should I call you?" Pyrrha asked awkwardly. Gula shrugged.

"Just call me Gula, though if you really need to use an honorific, you can use instructor." Gula responded.

"Okay… instructor… what did you want to work on?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, I noticed during our match earlier that you had a few moments of hesitance during our fight. I don't believe it was out of concern for me and based on what I've heard about you from professor Goodwitch, that seemed out of character for you." Gula explained. Pyrrha suddenly seemed very fidgety.

"Oh, really? I'm not sure what you mean…" She stuttered a bit. Gula shook his head.

"I'm not buying that. Anyway, when I noticed that little inconsistency, I started thinking about what set me apart from the rest of the students here. At first, I thought it was because I fight exclusively with martial arts and that was throwing you off a bit, but I immediately dismissed that. A fighter of your caliber and experience wouldn't be thrown off by that. Then I realized I was half right. Even the opponents you've faced that fights similar to me would still have a supplementary weapon, like Yang's gauntlets or Arslan's rope dart. Somehow, my lack of a weapon was throwing you off." Gula concluded. Pyrrha looked incredibly nervous.

"So, would you care to explain exactly why this is a factor?" Gula asked. Pyrrha eventually slumped over a little bit in defeat.

"My Semblance allows me to manipulate magnetism, allowing me to take control of my opponents' weapons and/or armor. I do it secretly though, only making small adjustments, so I can maintain control of the fight more easily." She explained. Gula crossed his arms in front of him before continuing.

"Excellent strategy, but I think it's become too much of a habit. Those moments of hesitation where your first instinct is to use your semblance on someone who doesn't have any metal to manipulate creates small windows that an experienced fighter can easily capitalize on. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly valid strategy, but this flaw was getting worse with every fight and you could easily have found out much later in a situation you might not have walked away from." Gula critiqued. Pyrrha frowned at the criticism, though she couldn't find anything wrong with it.

"There's also one other problem with this, though it's more of a side effect of this strategy. Namely, that you've gone undefeated until I showed up, right? Well, you aren't going to learn much from doing nothing but winning, are you?" Gula added. Pyrrha nodded begrudgingly. Gula grinned.

"Well, now that we got all that out of the way, we can get to the whole point of this little training trip!" He exclaimed as he rolled his shoulders. Pyrrha looked at him with a confused expression.

"I thought the whole point was to supplement our training at Beacon." She questioned. Gula shrugged.

"You could look at it that way, but mainly it's about pushing you all to the next level. My philosophy on training and fighting is that you are never done improving. You think of new techniques, refine old ones and find a whole new level beyond your current one. For instance, your primary use of your powers is manipulating enemy weapons and armor to constantly control the fight, but if you do JUST that, your power doesn't grow, nor do you grow with it. What I'm here to do is see just how far you can push those abilities, and not just in sheer power." He explained. That caught Pyrrha's attention, though there was still an apprehensiveness.

"That sounds great, but I still don't want to reveal my Semblance just yet." Pyrrha replied. Gula shrugged.

"You can go practice in the woods on your own if you really need to. In the meantime, I think I know how to start. Just give me a second, I need to check something." Gula concluded before taking a look at how the strength group was doing. Ruby was about half-way and already looked miserable. Bolin and Nadir were a little further ahead, but Nadir looked even closer to tears than Ruby. Reese, Sky and Fox were all lagging behind a bit, though Fox seemed to be strained much less than the other trainees. He was probably just pacing himself.

"Seems about right. Now then, I'm assuming your Semblance extends to your own armor, correct?" Gula inquired. Pyrrha nodded. Gula grinned a bit.

"Well, then it should theoretically be possible for you to increase your own striking power, right? At least in your legs. Though, considering you already have your sword and shield, you could just increase the amount of power in those instead of your arms…" Gula wondered aloud before turning to Pyrrha.

"I'd say that's a good point to start from. You're going to attack me using only kicks while using your Semblance to increase your striking power." Gula decided before walking a short distance away and sinking into his ready stance.

"Hit me with everything you have. I can take it." Gula called out. Pyrrha took up a ready position of her own before unleashing a lightning-fast kick! Gula blocked it with his forearm, eyes widening at the force behind it! He grinned.

"Keep 'em coming!" He instructed. Pyrrha unleashed a string of kicks, though she seemed a bit un-used to it. Gula chalked it up to her being more used to fighting with her sword and shield, but it certainly wasn't stopping her. Gula blocked each one with ease before eventually forcing her back.

"See?! And this is just scratching the surface!" He exclaimed as Pyrrha took a moment to recover.

"Now's a good time to consider the pros and cons of that technique, think of what can be done to improve it. I'm going to see how Cardin's doing." Gula bade farewell before going to check on Cardin. Who was currently going through the motions of his mace technique.

"Maybe there's more intricacies to your technique that I'm not aware of, but it doesn't look like what you're doing is appreciably different from our spar earlier." Gula remarked. Cardin glared but didn't respond in his typical fashion.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." He responded gruffly. Gula shook his head.

"There's more to technique and a fight than just the results. You've probably heard this all before, but you also have to consider the cost. For instance, while your strikes do deal a lot of damage, they're too telegraphed and easy to dodge for taking on anything more intelligent than basic Grimm, let alone smarter ones. For another, they're inefficient when it comes to stamina. Suppose you're stuck in a battle that's going to drag out for hours. With you're fighting style as it is now, you'd probably be ready to drop in about forty-five minutes." Gula critiqued. Cardin growled, but didn't respond otherwise.

"I'll leave you with this: to improve your technique as it is right now, you'll need to consider this important fundamental: Cost against results." Gula advised before moving to check on how the endurance team was doing.

They were all looking really tired. They'd ran well over a dozen laps already.

"Alright! Stop running! Drop your packs and rest for three minutes, then get water." Gula called out to them. There was immediate groans of relief as the packs all hit the ground almost simultaneously. As they rested up, Gula looked for any signs that they should stop for the day. Fortunately, after a rest and some water, they were all able to move on to the next exercise.

"Go and join the others working on technique. I'll join you all shortly." Gula instructed. Immediately, they all went to join the other trainees while Gula went to check in on the strength group. Sky and Nadir had collapsed half way back and were in the process of lifting their stones to complete the exercise. Ruby was just about at the end, though her legs looked ready to give out. The dirt and leaves on her front seemed to indicate she'd fallen over at some point as well. Everyone else had finished the exercise and were now resting.

"Okay, I think that's enough for one day! Take a five-minute break, then join everyone else in technique!" Gula called out. The strength group did just that, and soon, everyone was working on technique. As the day wore on, Gula couldn't help but grin at the progress that was being made. Much to his surprise, Cardin had taken his advice to heart and was making small adjustments to his technique to preserve more energy!

He worked one on one with everyone that day, offering small recommendations and advice to all the trainees. However, it soon became clear that enough was enough and Gula called an end to the day's session. There was many cries of relief when Gula told them to rest and recover for the day. He wasn't sure how well Aura worked on sore muscles, but he believed they'd be ready for the next day. The food delivery had arrived while everyone was training, and everyone was salivating at the sight of it. Gula was glad that at least a few of the groups had members who knew how to start a fire. An assortment of fire pits were set up and soon, everyone was busy making their dinner. Gula for his part, went and did more fishing, though was relieved that he didn't have to fish for the whole camp.

After collecting, gutting and frying his fish, Gula sat down at the large fire pit he'd made and was soon joined by the other teams, all with a wide assortment of foods. Gula almost felt jealous.

As everyone finished eating, the sun was dipping low in the sky and everyone had begun sharing ghost stories. Gula listened to a few of them, finding them more amusing than scary. Apparently, his lack of investment became noticed by Nora, who had been in the middle of a story of her own.

"Hey, are you yawning?! I'm in just getting to the good part!" She exclaimed. Gula shrugged.

"Eh, scary stories just aren't my thing. I guess all the time I spend out in the wilderness kinda just makes it less scary to me." He replied. Nora frowned, though by now, the tension had evaporated, and she had no desire to continue the story. Then, she had an idea.

"What about you? I bet you have a few spooky stories to tell." She challenged. Gula rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He hadn't really heard any before, but then he felt an idea of his own take shape. Since they didn't know anything about his true origins of culture, maybe he could draw from that.

"Yeah, I might have one. Don't know how scary it is though." Gula replied before clearing his throat.

"Have you ever heard the tale of the Oozaru?" He asked in a faux ominous tone. He took the trainees' shaking heads as an invitation to continue.

" _Legend tells of a great mountain, home to lush forests, bountiful wildlife and great natural beauty. However, it is a mountain devoid of the creatures of Grimm. Why, you may ask? The reason is simple. The mountain is home to a great, terrifying beast, known as the Oozaru, or Great Ape. It is said that the Oozaru only emerges from the mountains under the light of the full moon, heralded by it's blood curdling roar and the beating of its fists upon its chest. The sound carries for miles and reminds all who would dare trespass upon the mountain that its master will tolerate no uninvited guests._

 _One day, a group of humans discovered the mountain and wished to settle upon it. However, the nearby villages warned them of the wrath of the Oozaru. However, they scoffed at their warnings and sent scouts to the mountain. That night, under the light of the full moon, the screams of the scouts echoed for but a brief moment before the Oozaru's bellow drowned them out. The settlers however, refused to be deterred, and instead sent out a call for the greatest hunters of the land. In exchange for great riches, they asked only for the head of the Oozaru. In time, the hunters arrived and took the challenge, making their way to the mountain. There, they waited three days and three nights for the full moon to rise. They laid many traps and snares, sharpened their weapons and waited for the Great Ape to show itself. The moon reached its apex and the hunters waited. They waited before eventually, they heard the sound of a heavy footstep. It grew louder and louder, and the earth beneath them shook more and more. And yet, they could not see their quarry. Then, one of the hunters cast his eyes towards the moon, only to find it had vanished from the sky. Then, to his horror, it was replaced as two pure red eyes, filled with unbridled fury, opened to gaze upon the hunters. The Oozaru stood before them, towering fifty feet tall. It's jaws parted and a roar so ferocious filled the night sky._

 _The next day, one of the hunters returned to the settlers, driven mad by the sight if the beast. All of his comrades had been eaten alive by the Ape._

 _And to this day, the Oozaru still reigns over its mountain, waiting to punish those who set foot on the peak without leave of its master."_

Gula finished the story and waited for an answer.

"Wow, that story must be REALLY ancient if it's talking about the full moon!" Ruby exclaimed. She looked like she'd been a bit spooked by the story.

"Yeah, no kidding. Where'd you hear it?" Jaune asked. Gula shrugged.

"From my parents, before I struck out on my own." Gula replied before looking up. It was starting to get late.

"I'd recommend getting some sleep. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow!" He advised before making his way back to his shelter. Soon enough, everyone followed suit and the air was filled with the soft sound of snoring.

* * *

 _Three days later, just beyond Remnant's atmosphere…_

A massive, disk-shaped ship flew closer and closer to Remnant. Aboard was a small crew of various alien species. There were several Brench, Appule race, a Zaltian, and a Bas.

The Bas sat in the captain's chair of the craft, eying the world before him.

"Ugh. Why can't I have a more competent crew to work with so that we don't get constantly sent out to the boonies?! I swear, if we can't even handle the lowest of low-level worlds, I will space myself." He muttered before rising from his chair and making his way to the barracks.

The blue-skinned Bas cleared his throat as he entered the barracks, causing everyone to snap to attention.

"Alright, we are now approaching what will, post mission, become Frieza planet 616! Now, we're going to handle this PROPERLY this time! I won't be humiliated again and have to call upon another squad because you incompetent fools couldn't do your jobs! Now then, I want Ahmp and Oul to do some PROPER reconnaissance, so we know what we're dealing with. I won't get caught off guard again like we were when we were sent to capture Frieza planet 479." The Bas growled at his crew. The Zaltian and one of the Brench stood up and grudgingly made their way towards the descent hatch.

"And remember, I want COMPREHENSIVE observation before we make our move! If this turns into another fiasco, I'll have you both sent straight back to boot camp!" the Bas shouted at them as they descended out of the ship and into Remnant's atmosphere.

"You know, if the cap'n even bothers comin' down when we start clearing out the place, I doubt anyone would shed a tear if there was an unfortunate accident." The Brench, named Oul, muttered grumpily as they continued making their way towards the planet's surface. Ahmp grunted in reply, seemingly as annoyed as Oul was.

But that could wait until later. For now, they had scouting to do.

* * *

 **Oooh… This isn't good.**

 **Creativity: Yeah. Couldn't you have picked better names?**

 **Creativity: I picked great names! Okay, they're decent… Names are hard, okay?!**

 **On that subject, Ahmp is named after the unit of measurement for current (amperes, or amps for short), since his species can do an electricity thing. As for Oul, since Jeice's name is derived from juice, I just went with making another liquid-based name and came up with Oul (like oil).**

 **So, no one commented on the Discord thing last time (probably because no one reads these before and after bits), so I figured I'd ask again. Does the idea of a Discord server regarding stuff I put out sound like a good idea? Let me know.**

 **What else… Oh yeah! What did you guys think of the little Oozaru ghost story? It was a last-minute edition, but I feel I did not too bad, all things considered.**

 **Alright, enough from me! Exams are coming, and I have studying to do! See ya next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**And we return! Last we left off, a PTO scouting ship had arrived at Remnant, unbeknownst to our heroes. With two of the ship's crew now descending to Remnant, one can only guess what will happen next…**

 **Author: I thought I told you that you couldn't do the intros anymore.**

 **Creativity: Aww, but it's Dragon Ball! I do a pretty good…**

 **Author: No. No you don't.**

 **Anyway, with A Very Bad Idea wrapped up and more projects being hashed out, I figured I'd jump back into this story!**

 **It's been a few days since I last uploaded that I'm working on this again, and chapters might start shrinking now. They might not, though.**

 **Anyway, you're not interested in that. You're interested in the chapter! That's coming up next, but first a quick announcement!**

 **I have a Discord server now! Within the server, we discuss my stories, ideas, writing in general and just random stuff. Come be a part of it! Plus, it lets me respond to the readers in a FAR more timely manner! The current password is /mpJD6kM**

 **I hope to see you there!**

 **Now, let us proudly present chapter 10 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

As the sun rose to its peak on the tenth day of training, Gula couldn't help but appreciate how far the trainees had come. Over the last ten days, he'd seen real improvement. Team CRDL had something resembling actual team coordination, Jaune had improved leaps and bounds, Yang had refined her brawling style and had become less reliant on her Semblance, which Gula had discovered was like a more immediate and temporary version of the zenkai boost, Weiss and Blake had built up their stamina incredibly well, allowing them to last much longer in prolonged fights, CFVY and ABRN sported overall improvement, particularly in regards to Nadir from the latter team, though he still seemed to have some self-confidence issues. However, there was one challenge he was facing that was proving more difficult than he had originally anticipated.

"Come on, why can't I train with my sweetheart?!"

"Because your 'sweetheart' is becoming a crutch for you! If you get disarmed, you need to be able to fight back without it, which you currently can't! Now stop complaining and work with me here!"

Teaching Ruby hand-to-hand combat was probably the most difficult thing he'd had to do so far. Not even getting through to the CRDL's had been so frustrating as this. Yang was taking a break nearby, no doubt so that she could watch and laugh at the whole situation.

At this point, Gula was questioning if Ruby was really this bad, or if she was faking it in hopes of being reunited with her sniper-scythe that was currently in Blake's possession. It was as if she became a completely different person without her weapon!

Her balance was off, her strength was non-existent and there was little rhyme or reason to her form when she tried throwing a punch! It was as if her ability as a fighter was entirely houses inside that weapon and without it, she could do little else but flail about!

Gula had decided that they needed to start from the ground up, and had her take up a basic ready position, with both fists raised. From there, he'd been having her simple throw basic punches at his hands and correcting her form as she threw each punch. They were slowly but surely getting there with repetition, though Gula was concerned that he wouldn't be getting her up to snuff in the four days that were left in boot camp. Especially with how resistant she was to the whole thing. By now, they were doing faux spars, with Gula still having to call out basic corrections, mostly centering around her balance.

Gula finally decided that he'd had enough and turned to Yang.

"You think you can handle this for a little while? I need to take a few minutes otherwise I'm going to lose it." Gula told Yang, who burst out laughing.

"I was wondering how long it would take. Sure, I'll tag in!" She replied as she stood up and strode over to Ruby, who seemed to like the prospect of training with Yang even less. Heading over to the lake, Gula dunked his head in the water for a few seconds before pulling it out again and shaking it to keep water out of his eyes. Normally he'd flare his Ki to instantly dry himself off but refrained from doing so this time due to present company. After that, he stretched a few times and rolled his shoulders, feeling them pop. He looked to see how the training was going and frowned a little bit. It seemed the Yang's methods of training were a bit more in line with Saiyan style teaching, given Ruby was currently knocked on her backside and looking more scuffed than she had when they'd been faux sparring just a few minutes ago. While there was some benefit to sink or swim, he had a feeling that a different approach was needed with Ruby.

One that didn't involve him. Trying to teach her basic hand-to-hand was driving up the wall! He was seriously going to recommend to Goodwitch that Ruby be placed in some form of extra-curricular class for hand-to-hand combat because he doubted that he had the patience needed to even lay down a decent foundation for Ruby to build off of.

In fact, he'd go talk to her about that right now!

Gula strode over to Goodwitch, who was watching the training session like a hawk.

"You seriously need to get Ruby into some sort of hand-to-hand class, extra-curricular or otherwise. Not only is she dismally behind compared to everyone else, but she's really resistant to any instruction from me and Yang." Gula reported. Goodwitch frowned as she watched.

"You have a good point. Have you tried Miss Altan? Ruby might be more receptive to a teacher who isn't her sister or you." Goodwitch recommended. Gula found the advice a bit confusing.

"I get the Yang's style of teaching is a bit more sink or swim, but why would Ruby respond better to a stranger than her own family? Based on what I've seen, she's not very good at socializing." Gula asked.

"It's been my experience that siblings typically don't like being taught by each other. Also, you're one to talk about socializing." Goodwitch responded. Gula rolled his eyes.

"Unlike Ruby, I can actually socialize if the need arises. The doesn't mean I enjoy it. I mean, this whole crazy scheme of Ozpin's wouldn't have gone nearly as well if I was as socially inept as she is." Gula retorted before wincing when Yang knocked Ruby down for the umpteenth time. Deciding it was probably best if he went and took charge again before Ruby finally had enough.

"Alright Yang, that's enough! You mind going to find Arslan for me? I'll keep working with Ruby in the meantime." He called out as he jogged over. Yang smiled brightly and jokingly saluted before walking off to find Arslan. Gula helped Ruby up and winced.

"If that was how you were taught what little hand-to-hand you have now, I'm not surprised why you dislike it." Gula muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Ruby winced.

"Don't let Yang know. She'd never let me hear the end of it." She whispered back in fear. Gula shrugged.

"Be that as it may, you still need to have at least the basics down in case your weapon is broken, or you're disarmed in the middle of a fight." Gula reminded her, to which she slapped her hands to her cheeks and pulled down, letting out a groan of exasperation. Gula chuckled a little at her response.

"Tell you what. If you can get a handle on the basics before the last day, I'll help you figure out a brand-new technique with your scythe. Deal?" He offered. Ruby brightened up considerably.

"Deal!" She exclaimed before taking up the ready position. Gula took up his standard ready position before providing instructions.

"Alright! Stick to a basic four-hit combo and remember to keep your balance! Power doesn't mean anything if you just tumble over, hit or miss!" He called out. Ruby nodded and began her first set.

They went through about twenty repetitions of varying quality before Arslan finally showed up.

"Ah, good! I need you to keep running Ruby through basic hand-to-hand combat drills. Change them up every twenty sets. I'm going to go work with Fox and Ren for a bit." Gula instructed before heading off to do just that. He'd learned near the beginning of this little trip that the two of them were well practiced at Aura manipulation, thus he'd been rather eager to work with them individually. He'd already worked with Arslan a fair bit, though it hadn't been as productive as he'd hoped.

"Ah, instructor. You wanted to speak with us?"

Gula heard Ren speak to him and realized he was already a half-dozen yards from them. Gula nodded to them.

"Yeah. I had a few ideas for your next steps. First, tell me everything you know about Aura and its application." Gula requested. Ren and Fox nodded.

"Aura is the physical manifestation of the soul. Once our Aura is unlocked, we can project it outwards as a force to shield us from harm or to strike at an opponent." Ren explained in bullet points. Fox more or less corroborated this, though he was a bit more in-depth.

"Alright, just how deep does Aura manipulation go?" He asked. Ren and Fox both provided various stories about Aura manipulation, however, it all mainly boiled down to projecting a shield, bolstering physical strength, self-healing and unleashing energy impulses through strikes.

"Seems kind of shallow to me. The history, at least. Why should Aura be confined to the existing areas, not counting Semblance?" Gula asked. Ren and Fox seemed confused, so Gula elaborated.

"I think Aura can be pushed much further than it has so far. You two have exhibited incredible Aura control as far as I'm concerned, but you also seemed to have stopped where you are. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you haven't continued training and honing your technique, but you should be trying to take your technique to all new heights." Gula explained. Ren and Fox seemed a bit surprised by his assessment but understood what he was saying.

"I don't expect you either of you to come up with something by the end of the week, but I believe that you'll have enough time to at least figure out the direction you want to go in." Gula explained before walking a short distance a way and cracking his neck.

"Now then, I noticed that neither of you actually used any Aura-based strikes during our spars on the first day. I want to get an idea of exactly what kind of power you two are packing." Gula announced before dropping into his combat stance. He resisted the urge to flare his Ki for effect, though a small part of him wondered if he'd actually need it for this fight. He quickly dismissed those thoughts. Even if he needed to draw on Ki for this fight, he could do so without showing it off.

The two trainees seemed unsure of the request, so Gula decided to repeat himself.

"Alright, in case you misheard me, I want you two to attack me using Aura strikes. Trust me, I can take the hits." He reassured them. Though they still seemed a bit doubtful, they finally relented took of combat stances.

Gula grinned as they charged him, with Fox opening with a string of punches and kicks that Gula could sense were at least boosted by Aura, though didn't have the sheer force behind them that he'd heard about. Then he realized that Fox was trying to find an opening for the strike. Gula held back a grin as he deliberately created the opening Fox was looking for, baiting him in for a strike. Fox rushed forward and swung both fists forward at once! Gula could sense the power in the strike and crossed his arms in front of him, bracing for the strike!

There was definitely more energy in the strike than Gula had anticipated, but nothing he couldn't handle. He skidded back, creating two small dugouts with his feet before he saw Ren leaping in for a palm strike. He blocked with his arm, feeling the force of the strike reverberate through his bones. Still not enough to rattle him, but it did make him grin. Aura could be even stronger than he thought.

The spar went on for a few more minutes before Gula called it to an end. Fox and Ren both looked pretty worn out and no doubt their Aura's were drained from the strikes.

"You both impressed me today! If you can find the next level beyond, well, you'll both be able to give me a real good fight one on one!" Gula praised. Ren and Fox took the praise as best they could, considering they were both draining their water bottles.

* * *

Soon enough, the day had passed, and everyone was busy making dinner. Apparently, Ruby had managed to arrange for something called 'marshmallows' to be snuck in with the dinners. Gula had been frustrated at first, though he gave it a bit of thought and decided that considering the ten days of hell they'd put up with, he'd let it slide. They sat around the fire, spearing them on sharpened sticks and holding them in the fire until they turned brown, though some (Yang) decided to just light them on fire, extinguish them and eat them that way. Gula didn't exactly get the appeal of either way and was even more confused when Ruby suddenly produced two cookies (How had she smuggled THOSE in?!), sandwiched a marshmallow between them and ate the whole thing in one bite. Apparently, it was called a smore? Again, he didn't get the appeal. At least, not until the whole camp pressured him into trying one. Then he understood. He understood a great deal.

A few hours (and many smores later), it was high time for everyone to turn in for the night. Gula crawled into his shelter and settled in to sleep. However, he couldn't sleep. He felt… restless, tense. His senses pricked for the slightest motion.

His instincts told him something was wrong.

* * *

Meanwhile, over in the RWBY shelter, the team leader was also being told something by her senses. Her hearing, specifically. She heard the call of nature.

"Drat drat drat…" Ruby muttered as she slowly crept out of the shelter and hurried into the woods with a flashlight. Unfortunately, one of her teammates was woken up.

"Dammit Ruby, we all told you to go before…" Blake muttered groggily. Then she heard something. It was a long way off, since her cat ears were just barely detecting it, but it was out there.

"And Ruby is out in the woods... alone… Dammit Ruby." Blake muttered again as she grabbed her weapon and crawled out of the shelter. As she went off in the direction that Ruby went off in, her ears were kept pricked for those strange noises she'd heard in the direction of the mountains. Eventually, she found her leader on her way back from the woods.

"There you are. Ruby, we all told you to go before it got too dark." Blake reprimanded. Ruby rubbed the back of her head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry. I just didn't need to go before." She replied sheepishly. They turned to head back, but Blake's hearing drew her attention deeper into the forest. She squinted, using her Faunus heritage to try and pinpoint the source of the noise. It was weird, sounding almost like a string of beeping noises one might here from an electronic device of some kind. Whatever it was, her curiosity was starting to get the better of her.

"Uhh, Blake? The camp is back that way." Ruby reminded her when she noticed Blake had stopped moving. Blake shook her head, trying to shake her curiosity, but then the beeping noise sounded again, and she growled in frustration.

"I keep hearing something off in that direction. It sounds like an electronic of some kind." She told Ruby, who squinted in the direction Blake was pointing.

"I don't see or hear anything. You sure it isn't your imagination?" Ruby asked. Blake shook her head.

"It's too clear to be fake and whatever it is, it's driving me crazy! Look, I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight if I constantly hear… whatever that is out there, pinging over and over again. Let's just go take a quick look to see if we can get it shut down, then we go back to sleep. Okay?" Blake pleaded. Ruby thought about for a moment before nodded.

"Okay. You lead the way." Ruby replied, removing Crescent Rose from her back, though not unfolding it quite yet. Blake also drew Gambol Shroud and the pair made their way into the forest.

"So, what kind of beeping noise are we looking for?" Ruby asked as she pushed a branch or two aside, following closely behind Blake.

"Honestly, it sounded almost like a really old printer." Blake muttered as she pressed forward.

"A printer? Seriously?" Ruby questioned skeptically.

"I know, but that's the closest thing I can compare the noise to." Blake replied.

"Well, what are we going to do when we find this mysterious forest printer?" Ruby asked as Blake hacked a branch out of their way.

"Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead." Blake admitted as her eyes scanned the forest in front of them.

"If Yang were here, she'd probably make a joke about cats and…"

"Ruby, just because Yang isn't here doesn't mean you need to take her place and make jokes about curiosity and cats." Blake growled back at her team leader. Ruby shrunk back a little bit, offering a fearful apology. Suddenly, Blake heard the sound again! It was much closer this time and coming from... above?

Blake looked up and her breath caught in her throat. Floating above her and Ruby was a massive gray reptilian-looking creature and a man with sky-blue skin and white hair! They were wearing identical uniforms, a black spandex-like material with some sort of armor over their chests, with emphasis on pauldrons extending from the shoulders. Additionally, the both also sported strange devices fitted over their left ears and eyes. Blake's eyes widened when she realized that they were the source of the beeping!

Then one of said beeps sounded and both of the weirdos paused and looked down.

"Well, that's just great." The reptilian one muttered in a gravelly voice.

"What should we do? They aren't the power level that we've been tracking. Hell, they don't even come close to a third." The other one muttered in a strange accent.

"Well, protocol does state that this planet is slated for extermination pre-sale…" The lizard man muttered as his lips curled into a cruel smile.

"Blake, I'm starting to think we should…" Ruby started before Blake grabbed her and bolted! They heard a series of explosions behind them, prompting Ruby to take charge of running and run as fast as her legs could go to escape the lunatics chasing them!

Unfortunately, a blast struck the ground just in front of them, causing an explosion of flame to rise up in front of them, barring their path. Ruby and Blake both drew their weapons and prepared for a fight. Their pursuers drew to a stop a short distance away, eyes glittering with sick enjoyment, as though this was a game to them! Blake realized that it probably was that. Ruby on the other hand, took aim and fired a few shots from Crescent Rose at their attackers, who didn't even flinch as the bullets struck them! Blake felt dread creep into her chest as Ruby fired a few more shots out of desperation.

The one with blue skin sighed with exasperation before extending his hand outward. A glowing blue orb appearing in his palm. Blake steeled herself for the attack as Ruby backed up slowly.

"Hopefully the next vermin we encounter will be more fun to hunt." The blue man remarked in a bored tone before the orb shot towards them! Blake moved to dodge but suddenly felt the wind roar past them as a dark shape materialized in front of them! The shape swatted the blast to the side, sending it careening through the air and exploding about twenty feet away from them! Blake turned her gaze back to their mysterious savior, who's identity was revealed by the firelight.

Standing between them and the attackers was Gula, and he did not look happy.

* * *

Gula had started cursing his instincts for being right the exact moment the explosions had started. He scrambled out of his shelter and immediately took off in a dead sprint towards the explosions. He'd been hoping it would be Dust explosions or at least originating from Remnant. However, the moment he saw a Brench and a Zaltian he started cursing. Then the cursing got especially violent when he saw Ruby and Blake staring down a Ki blast!

Abandoning all subtlety, he rocketed forward, just in time to knock the blast away from his trainees!

The whole world paused As Gula glared at the Zaltian and the Brench. They were dressed in PTO standard armor, though it looked different from the variety that Gula had arrived on Remnant in. For one, the pauldrons were sensibly sized.

"Oh, what luck! The power level we were searching for came to us! Well, that saves us the trouble of having to keep tracking you!" The Brench crowed jovially. Gula snarled and powered up, crimson Ki erupting from his body! Blake and Ruby backed up in shock.

"Wait, is that a tail? Is he a Saiyan?! Oh, this will be fun…" Zaltian replied. Gula didn't care if he'd been outed. All that mattered was putting these two in the ground.

"Ruby, Blake, run back to the camp as fast as you can and tell Goodwitch to call an emergency evacuation." Gula ordered without taking his eyes off of his opponents, who both leered at him.

"Gula?! How did… What are… HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"And what the Dust are they talking about?! What's a Saiyan?!" Blake questioned, not taking her eyes off of the Brench and Zaltian.

"I can't fight these guys if I constantly have to make sure you aren't killed in the crossfire! Get out of here, get to Goodwitch and get back to Vale!" He shouted.

"Oh what, monkey? You trying to make sure we don't kill your pets or something?" The Zaltian taunted. Gula grit his teeth, muscles tensing in preparation for battle. Blake's eyes widened at the insult.

"Monkey?! You listen here you ra…" Blake started before Gula interrupted her.

"Blake, Ruby, where should you be right now?!" He questioned rhetorically.

"Back with Goodwitch?" Ruby answered meekly.

"BACK WITH GOODWITCH! NOW GO!" He roared! By this point, impatience got the better of his opponents, who rocketed forward, their own Ki flaring! Gula charged up two spheres in his hands and threw them forward before launching himself forward! Ruby and Blake both took off running back towards the camp, not daring to look back at the battle that was unfolding behind them.

Gula snarled as he and his opponents traded blows rapidly while rocketing about in the forest. They were both stronger than him, but not by much. He spun out of the way of a Ki blast from the Brench before slamming his elbow into the Zaltian's chest. He deliberately avoided striking the head as he knew that the Zaltian could just pull its head into its body to dodge. He whirled around and charged up a Comet Shot before launching it at the Brench, who dodged above it and launched a flurry of smaller blasts at him. Gula dodged what he could and blocked what he couldn't before rocketing forward, his fists clad in crimson energy. The first blow was struck to the Brench's stomach, causing him to double over in pain and shock! Gula took the opportunity to dive straight into a Riot Session, striking the Brench with heavy blows in rapid succession! However, the Zaltian quickly charged forward and hit Gula in the back with a knee, sending Gula smashing through several trees! After picking himself up, Gula shot forward, kicking one of the down trees at the Zaltian, who merely blasted it to ashes. However, Gula still came rocketing out of the smoke cloud, unleashing a point-blank Comet Shot straight into the Zaltian's stomach! The Zaltian was thrown back, though he quickly recovered and was soon joined by the Brench. Gula grit his teeth in frustration. Both his opponents were damaged, but only superficially. Meanwhile, Gula was still feeling the kick to the spine from earlier, as well as a few small open wounds from earlier blows.

"Well, you're putting up a pretty good fight, Monkey! Honestly though, I have to ask how such a young one such as you wound up all the way out here! Especially considering you're only one of a whole documented four still out there!" The Brench jabbed. Gula's eyes widened.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He snarled as he began took advantage of the brief pause to collect himself.

"What, you didn't hear? Frieza blew up planet Vegeta and the Saiyans with it! Good riddance I say!" The Zaltian answered as he cracked his neck. Gula felt shock course through him. They were all gone? All of them?!

He didn't have time to get over the shock as both of his opponents rocketed forward, fists cocked back to strike! Gula yelped and snap-vanished out of the way of the double punch before slamming his hands together, energy gathering around them until his hands were encased in a glowing sphere. He had no idea if this would work, but he needed _something_ right about now!

"Leonid Burst!" He shouted before twelve blasts erupted from the sphere before dividing into two groups and rocketing towards his two opponents! He then took advantage of the brief distraction to tear the suppression ropes from his arms, cursing himself for not doing so sooner. Feeling his power burst to new heights, Gula smirked.

"This should even things up a little." He muttered before charging a Comet Shot and launching it at the Brench, who was still recovering from his surprise attack from a few moments ago. The Brench turned to see the attack incoming, his eyes widening in surprise as the blast connecting, blasting him through several trees and forcing him back towards the mountains.

Gula rocketed upwards and out of the treeline before jetting towards the mountains, launching a volley of Ki blasts as he went. The Zaltian roared and rocketed towards him, his body encased in a violent aura, powering through the blasts! Gula's eyes widened as he fired a heavier volley at the Zaltian, only for the blasts to prove ineffective as the lizard man slammed his shoulder into Gula's torso. Gula was sent hurtling back, but not only from the impact. His body was sparking with electricity as he slammed into the mountain.

"Right. Zaltians have a natural bio-electrical control. That's gonna be a problem." Gula muttered as he felt his muscles stop spasming. He rose to his feet and powered up again as he saw the Brench charging up a massive ball of energy above his head. Gula unleashed a volley of shots at the Brench, trying to disrupt the attack, but the Zaltian simply flew in front of them and took them head on. Gula growled in frustration and charged up a Comet Shot, only for the Brench to throw his own attack at Gula! Gula fired the Comet Shot at the ball, but it couldn't stop it. Hell, it was barely slowing down! Gula braced for the impact and was thrown against the mountain again, only this time the Zaltian didn't wait for Gula to get up. He instead pinned Gula to the mountain with his foot and electrocuted it! Gula yelled in agony as the electricity surged through his body. He was desperately trying to break free from his pinned position, but his muscles wouldn't respond.

"You know, I think I just might have you stuffed and put on display. Bagging a Saiyan isn't something just anyone can do these days." The Zaltian mused aloud. Gula yelled and tried to power up, but the electricity was too much to overpower!

"Barring that, I'll at least take the tail. Good trophy to hang in the ship, y'know." The Zaltian continued. Gula snarled in response and mustered all the willpower he had left before channeling all the Ki he had into an outward explosion! The Zaltian was thrown back by the blast but wasn't off-balance for long. As Gula shot towards the Zaltian, he just smirked and crossed his arms in front of him before his body started crackling with electricity. The moment Gula's fist connected with the Zaltian's body, he was thrown back, feeling the telltale sting of an electrical shock.

"Neat trick, huh? Doesn't matter how much power you put into a punch if you can't hit me with it!" The Zaltian crowed before launching two electrical blasts at Gula. Gula barely dodged them by flying straight up, only to get kicked in the back of the head by the Brench.

"Where did you even come from?!" Gula shouted in frustration before throwing a Ki blast at the Brench, who batted it aside before throwing two blasts of his own. Gula slipped around them and returned fire by unleashing another Leonid Burst. The twelve projectiles surged through the air in an erratic pattern before colliding with the Brench, sending him hurtling into the forest below. Gula then turned his attention to the Zaltian, who smirked before cracking his knuckles. Gula let out a bellow, flaring his Ki before launching himself at the Zaltian, throwing several Ki blasts as he approached. The Zaltian merely crossed his arms again and let the blasts connect. Gula could see an electric field covering the Zaltian and frowned. It seemed the field was also protecting the Zaltian from the brunt of Gula's blasts. And with it active, he wasn't going to be able to land any melee hits without hurting himself in the process.

"Come on, monkey! I'm not done with you yet!" The Zaltian sneered before two orbs or electricity materialized in its hands. Gula snarled before returning to his combat stance, senses furiously trying to find a weak point. If he couldn't end this soon, he'd run out of energy and Remnant wouldn't stand a chance.

* * *

The moment the explosions had started, most of the camp woke with a start. When they saw Gula running towards the fire like a bat out of hell, they became concerned. However, when Ruby and Blake came bursting out of the bush, shouting for professor Goodwitch, people fell dead silent.

"What have you two gotten…" Goodwitch started before Ruby started talking a mile a minute. Luckily, Blake managed to explain through gasps of breath what was going on.

"Someone in forest… Gula's fighting them… Told you to call for emergency evac…" She got out before dropping to her knee. Both her and Ruby had inhaled a fair bit of smoke from the fire. Goodwitch immediately did as Blake had relayed, her face looking a bit pale.

And then more explosions started. And lasers were shooting up into the sky.

Needless to say, the students were all pretty freaked out. Just what the hell was Gula fighting in the forest that could throw around this kind of power?!

Soon enough, Blake and Ruby recovered enough and were watching the forest where the battle was taking place.

"Blake, what the heck is Gula?" Ruby whispered as the ground shook from another explosion.

"I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question…" Blake replied in murmur. As another laser pierced the air, she couldn't help but compare it to that strange energy that had been pouring off of Gula after he deflected that blast. It wasn't like any Aura she'd ever seen before. It could have been his Semblance, but it didn't feel like it. Ruby's question surged to the forefront of her mind. Just what the hell was Gula? Those weird things had called him a Saiyan. What was a Saiyan? Was it some type of Faunus? Unlikely. There would have at least been rumors within the White Fang if there were Faunus like that. So what did that make Gula?

As the ground shook from another explosion, Blake once again wondered whether or not she wanted to know the answer to that question.

* * *

Gula growled in frustration as he felt the sting of the Zaltian's electric fists slamming against his arms and torso. For the life of him, he couldn't find a weak-point! And to make matters worse, the Brench had rejoined the fray and they were slowly but surely overwhelming him.

The big problem at the moment was the Zaltian. The Brench had shown an over-reliance on projectiles so far. If Gula could simply get him in close-quarters combat, he'd have it wrapped up in a heartbeat. The Zaltian would be a perpetual wrench in that plan though. His endurance and bioelectric abilities meant that he could easily power through whatever Gula threw at him and prevent him from taking out the Brench.

Thus, he had to take out the Zaltian first. And to do that, he'd need to get around that damn electric shield.

Gula grinned as an idea slowly came to him. He watched the Zaltian carefully, eying the barrier as he kept blocking the attacks from both the Brench and the Zaltian. Then without warning, he sprang into a backflip, snap-vanished a short distance away and reappeared with two Ki-balls the size of watermelons. He threw them both simultaneously, catching his opponents off-guard as the blasts detonated in their faces!

With what precious seconds of reprieve he had, Gula let out a roar as he drew on his dwindling Ki reserves before the raging red aura surrounding him tightened into a fine red sheen around his body. He smirked as he admired his handiwork before turning to see the Zaltian erupt from the smoke cloud, fist reared back to strike!

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?!" The Zaltian shouted before throwing the punch! Gula merely crossed his arms in front of him and let the blow connect, his smirk widening when he noticed that his experiment had paid off. The Zaltian seemed to notice too, as his mouth fell open in shock.

"What's going on?! Why aren't you being electrocuted?!" The Zaltian cried out before Gula punched him in the nose.

"What can I say? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Gula sneered before breaking into a vicious string of punches and kicks! The Zaltian cried out in pain as his guard was utterly shattered. He couldn't even concentrate enough to create an electric barrier! Gula let out a savage roar before unleashing a Ki blast straight into the Zaltian's stomach, then following it up with a Riot Session. As he snap-vanished around the Zaltian, delivering blow after punishing blow, he started gearing himself up for the finishing blow. He spiked the Zaltian down towards the ground then snap-vanished down in front of him, charging up a Comet Shot and unleashing it point blank into the Zaltian's chest! The blast tore a hole straight through the Zaltian, leaving him as good as dead.

Gula let the corpse drop to the ground before turning his gaze to the Brench, who was looking on in shock and horror. Gula snarled before rocketing towards the Brench, fists clenched. The Brench panicked and unleashed a storm of blasts, but Gula easily darted around them and began laying the smackdown on the Brench, delivering a wild string of punches and kicks until the Brench was so bruised, his face was more purple than it was blue.

Gula delivered one final punch to the Brench, sending him crashing into the mountains before unleashing one final Comet Shot. The blast created an explosion that left no body behind. Gula slowly lowered himself down onto the mountain, his red aura fading. He was breathing heavily as he dropped to one knee, sweat dripping from his arms and forehead.

"How's that… for a monkey…" Gula muttered before he collapsed to the ground unconscious, but victorious.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in Remnant's upper atmosphere…_

"Aright. Say that to me one more time."

"Y… yes sir. According to the last transmission from their scouters, Ahmp and Oul both made it to the planet surface, then activated their scouters to gauge the power levels of the local population. They discovered a power level much higher than the average level and started tracking it. According to the transmission, the source of the power level was a Saiyan, who fought and killed them."

The Bas captain pinched the brow of his nose.

"I'm the only one this could possibly happen to…" He muttered before rising from his chair.

"Very well. I am going to contact control and inform them that we have discovered a rogue Saiyan on planet 616. Hopefully, they'll send us some reinforcements so that we can deal with this problem and get on with our lives." The Bas decreed before motioning for his underling, an Appule race, to leave. The Bas frowned as he looked down at Remnant.

"You just can't go extinct properly, can you? You filthy monkeys…" The Bas growled under his breath.

* * *

 **And that's where we're gonna leave it for now! Man, I had fun with this one.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, the fight scene was fun to write! And it's fun to come up with new attacks!**

 **Author: Yeah, it is pretty fun.**

 **Well, I don't have much to say here at the end. Discord Server is above, where you and I and other readers can talk about my stories, I hope you all have a good day, annnnnd… that's all I got.**

 **See ya next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Good evening everyone! So, I have officially returned from Endgame and… wow.**

 **Creativity: We ain't saying a daaaaaaaaamn thing…**

 **Author: No. No we are not.**

 **So, I haven't worked on this story at all since publishing chapter 10 (It's the 25** **th** **of April as I'm writing this) and I spent a fair bit of time on where I go with the story next. I kinda felt like I'd written myself into a bit of a corner with revealing Gula's true nature to the rest of the cast this early, but I think I've hashed out where to go next in a satisfying manner.**

 **Creativity: Oh, you wanted to respond to comments?**

 **Author: Oh yeah.**

 **So, to Saiyan1 (Please get an account or join the Discord server if you're going to ask questions that are better answered immediately) yes, Gula's pants and boots are similar in design to Goku's though the boots use buckles instead of laces. As for the hair, I envisioned it as similar to Trunks' long hair as Super Saiyan (circa Cell arc) though a bit more wild. The wolf pelt is gray, though you can do his green sash if you'd prefer. The two are interchangeable. And the gloves ARE ropes. Think SF4 and Akuma and onward, or S3 Daredevil for reference.**

 **Now, as for eugene, why yes, you're right. Thank you for pointing that out.**

 **In all seriousness, I'd have done the same thing if it was Vegeta, Nappa or Raditz, because it's funny. Or at least, I think it is. Also, Gula is not battle-hardened. He's been kicked around most of his life. That's something that should be pointed out, because people seem to envision Gula as some variation of Vegeta. He isn't. If I wanted a variation of Vegeta, I'd have done that. He doesn't have 'Saiyan Pride' in the same way that other Saiyans do, since he's basically lived the first ten of his sixteen years of life getting kicked down for not being strong enough to represent that pride.**

 **Creativity: That about everything?**

 **Author: I think so. Oh!**

 **New Discord link here:** **nrVT4Z6**

 **And now that's everything! Now let us present chapter 11 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula twitched slightly as he slowly regained consciousness. The first thing he noticed was that he was sore. Really, really sore. His eyes slowly cracked open, though he quickly covered them, trying to shield himself from the sunlight that beat down on him. He slowly rolled over and managed to sit up, ignoring his limbs' protest to the action. As his vision came into focus, he looked around at his surroundings, tiredly noting that it looked like he'd fallen asleep in a war zone. Then it all came back to him and he was on his feet in moments.

A Zaltian and a Brench had come to Remnant, flying the colors of the Planet Trade Organization. He'd fought them after he caught them about to turn Ruby and Blake into a smoking crater. And he'd won. The agents of the PTO were dead. Plus, based on how sore he felt, he'd gotten a rather substantial zenkai boost from the ordeal.

However, he didn't feel any relief. This was likely only a small scouting party, and probably wasn't the whole group. They likely hadn't been on the planet for more than a few hours before they found him, and he killed them, which likely meant they hadn't used battle pods to get here. He'd have noticed them if they had. That likely meant there was a whole damn ship somewhere nearby, and they'd gotten down to the surface by flying down by themselves. Hopefully, they'd be on roughly the same level as the two he had disposed of already, but Gula doubted he would be that lucky.

Gula floated into the air and took a moment to appreciate the carnage that he had been part of that night. Most of the fires had burned themselves out, thankfully. Plenty of trees had been damaged to varying degrees, and there were several dents in the mountains.

"Hopefully they made it back to Beacon in one piece." Gula muttered as he flew through the forest, scanning the ground. Eventually, he came across what he was looking for; the corpse of the Zaltian. Gula wrinkled his nose as he landed next to the body. The smell would have been enough to find the body if his eyes had missed them. He pulled the scouter from the Zaltian's corpse and looked it over before cursing. A piece of the casing had cracked during the fight and it revealed that the circuitry was damaged beyond repair. Not that Gula would have known how to repair it in the first place.

"Well, bright side is that they can't track the previous owners down now. Downside is that I can't track the others." Gula muttered as he started flying back through the forest. He almost didn't realize how far he'd flown before he noticed the trainees' shelters below him. He slowly drifted down to the ground and walked numbly over to the large fire pit, taking a seat on one of the log benches. He groaned as he rubbed his face.

"What the hell do I do now?" Gula muttered, staring at the pile of burnt logs and soot in the pit. The PTO would be back, that much was certain. Especially if there was a whole damn ship in orbit. They'd no doubt know that two of their crew had been killed and they'd be working out a response to that. They couldn't retreat. This world was low-level enough that Frieza would probably kill them for retreating. Same if they called for backup. That left sending down more crew. If they were of similar level to the two that Gula had killed and they were still lacking true coordination, he could handle them two at a time. The zenkai boost had definitely made him stronger than either of them, maybe even both of them. Still, that still left him with a whole other problem.

What happened when reinforcements inevitably showed up? That would be the eventuality if he stopped the scouting ship. There'd be an investigation and that investigation would lead to Gula being discovered. That all assumed that the scouting ship didn't already know that there was a Saiyan on Remnant. The scouters the Brench and Zaltian had been wearing would see to that. No matter what happened, Gula was staring down the barrel of a lot of fights in the future, all guaranteed to be ones with his, not to mention Remnant's existence on the line.

"Now I REALLY wish I could get my old battle pod working again…" Gula muttered as he idly fidgeted with a pebble. Though deep down, he knew that what little Saiyan pride he had wouldn't permit him to run if he could.

Speaking of the Saiyans, that was another thing that was bothering him. Planet Vegeta was gone, apparently by Frieza's own hand. And the Saiyans had mostly gone with it. He was among the last of them. And here he was, stuck on a planet that didn't even have anything approaching a functioning space program yet.

"Never thought I'd ever actually say this, but thanks for knocking me unconscious, putting me in a battle pod and jettisoning me off planet, father." Gula muttered to himself. But now, the PTO had caught up with him. Likely by accident, but they'd caught up all the same. He needed to be ready.

Gula had to get stronger. It was an urgent necessity now. The question however, was how?

* * *

When Ozpin received word from Goodwitch that the trainees were being emergency evacuated from the site that Gula had been training them on, he'd thought Goodwitch was overreacting a bit. Then he learned that it was Gula who had told her to start the evacuation, and he'd gotten nervous. Having seen what he was capable of, it certainly should give one pause when Gula believes he can't keep a group safe from something.

Then he saw the energy blasts and explosions coming from far off in the distance, and he felt a small knot of dread in his stomach. Whatever Gula was fighting out there, it had to be incredibly powerful if he was throwing around that sort of energy. He hadn't known that Gula was capable of such destruction, having only been able to guess at Gula's strength from the recordings of him demolishing hordes of Grimm without breaking a sweat.

He'd immediately contacted Qrow to investigate what was going on. By the time he'd flown to the site, the battle had been over for some fifteen odd minutes. Qrow took some pictures of the battlefield, as well as the corpse that Gula had left behind. It didn't look like any human, faunus or Grimm Ozpin had ever seen before. Qrow had also found Gula who was unconscious, but alive. As much as Ozpin wanted Qrow to bring Gula back to the school for medical treatment, he suspected that there would be… complications if that happened. Gula's immense strength and the fact that he'd likely be extremely jumpy after the brawl he'd just won were a recipe for disaster. Besides, despite the thrashing he'd undergone, Gula seemed to be pulling through just fine. Qrow described him as looking more exhausted than hurt.

Still, recent events had illustrated that he couldn't just beat around the bush with Gula anymore. Who (or whatever) Gula was, it was clear that he was involved in something incredibly dangerous that Ozpin needed to be aware of. However, he had a different problem now. It was obvious that Gula's strength exceeded Ozpin's, and probably by a fair margin. Ozpin was finding that an incredibly difficult pill to swallow, but it had to be swallowed nonetheless. This created the problem of how he confronted Gula about what dangers he was aware that Ozpin wasn't, without pushing Gula into responding with violence. He'd likely be on a hair-trigger for that topic.

Despite that, Ozpin was beginning to more and more consider risking that trigger being pulled. Gula's battle from the previous night had raised more questions than simply who or what Gula was. For instance, there was the corpse he'd left in the woods. It looked like some sort of grey-skinned reptile man, completely unlike any faunus Ozpin had ever seen before. The creature had a hole blown through its chest and had been wearing some form of peculiar armor. He'd had Qrow go back to the corpse to retrieve the armor after he'd brought back pictures. He was still waiting to return, so that left him time to think about a missing element from the scenario. According to professor Goodwitch, there had been two attackers that Gula had been fighting off, according to young Ruby Rose and Blake Belladona. One attacker lay dead in the forest, while Gula had been found unconscious but alive on the mountain. That left one body unaccounted for. Ozpin doubted that Gula would still be alive if the other attacker was too, which meant that either the body was well hidden (unlikely, since Gula appeared to have collapsed not soon after his victory), that Qrow had missed it somehow, which was borderline impossible. That left the answer that there was no body, that it had somehow disappeared. It sounded laughable at first, but the more Ozpin thought about, the more he began leaning towards the idea that Gula had used such monumentally destructive force that it hadn't left so much as a drop left of his opponent.

And all of this had come from a boy only a year older than Ruby Rose.

Ozpin took a long draught from his coffee to calm his nerves a bit before turning to acknowledge the bird that had just landed in his office.

"Well, did you bring it?" Ozpin asked tiredly as he took another sip.

"Yeah, I brought it. The whole 'aliens from outer space' thing you mentioned might not be as crazy as I thought. This stuff can take a hell of a beating and it hardly ways more than a pair of socks." Qrow muttered as he placed the armor on Ozpin's desk. Ozpin wrinkled his nose at the smell that emanated from the armor. Qrow noticed and winced.

"Yeah, I would've dunked it in a lake to try and get rid of that a bit, but the kid was there, and I didn't wanna tip him off that something was up." Qrow explained as he look a look at the armor. Ignoring the smell, Ozpin began examining the armor.

It was very elastic, almost absurdly so, and incredibly durable. Aside from the one hole blasted through it, most of the armor was still intact with only minor scuffs.

"Do you think we should bring Jimmy in on this? Let's face it, we are nowhere near ready to handle something like this if it happens again. Hell, I'm not even sure who's side we should be on." Qrow muttered as he tested the armor by striking it with his massive blade. Ozpin frowned while stroking his chin at Qrow's suggestion. It wasn't a bad idea. Especially since Qrow was right about one thing; They had no idea why Gula was fighting these people to begin with. Even if they had threatened two of his students, they still didn't know Gula's stake in that fight. He could conceivably be more dangerous than the two strangers he had killed that night.

"I'll consider that suggestion. In the meantime, I'll try to arrange for someone to keep tabs on our young friend. Despite how much we both want to know more about him, I still need you keeping an eye on Salem's forces." Ozpin responded. Qrow huffed in agreement before walking to the window.

"Not many people who'll be able to do that. The kid won't be going to any cities for a while, and it'll be hard to hide from him in the forest, as well as just keep up with him." Qrow muttered.

"True enough, and the only people who can currently do both those things with the ease required are you and Raven." Ozpin mused. Qrow frowned at the mention of his twin. Then he thought about it more and felt an idea coming on.

"That's not a bad idea…" Qrow muttered. Ozpin looked back at him, confused.

"What exactly are you talking about, Qrow?" Ozpin inquired. Qrow turned back to him, the hint of a smirk on his face.

"I'm thinking we can get Raven to keep tabs on wonder-kid for us." Qrow explained. Ozpin shook his head.

"Qrow, you of all people know that Raven wants absolutely nothing to do with me or anything associated with me. How in the name of Oum do you believe we could persuade her to keep an eye on 'wonder-kid', as you so call him?" Ozpin asked with disbelief. Qrow smirked.

"It's pretty simple, actually. We just show her a bit of footage, give her a general idea of what he can do and let the goblins in her head take it from there." Qrow explained. Ozpin gestured to him, indicating he should elaborate.

"If there's one thing about Raven, it's that once she knows that there's someone like wonder-kid out there, she gets… well, twitchy is a good description. It's going to bother her that someone that strong is just waltzing around Remnant. She'll want to learn everything she can about him; who he is, where he comes from, how he does what he does, etcetera. I can guarantee that she's gonna obsess over it. All that matters afterwards is getting her to spill on what she knows, which I'm reasonably sure I can get her to do." Qrow explained. Ozpin stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"The idea has merit. However, is it not possible, even probable, that she will instead attempt to kill him?" Ozpin pointed out. Qrow frowned for a moment, thinking as much as his alcohol addled brain would permit.

"I don't think so. She'll want to figure out if she can do what he does, which will be a lot harder if he's dead." Qrow reasoned. Ozpin mulled it over as he sat back down in his chair.

"I'll leave it up to your judgement, Qrow. Just let me know within a few days so I can try to make arrangements." Ozpin answered. Qrow nodded before taking the form of his namesake and flying off into the distance. Ozpin took another sip from his coffee before rubbing his forehead. He'd have to speak to Gula's trainees about what happened. They'd already been told to keep a tight lip about it, but he'd need to find any leads he could.

The more he thought about, the more help he realized he'd need. Very particular help, in fact. Reluctantly, Ozpin pressed a few buttons on his scroll before laying it on his desk. A few moments later, a large screen was projected out of the desk with the face of an old friend upon it.

"Good day, James." Ozpin greeted.

" _Good day, Ozpin. What are you calling about?"_ James Ironwood replied. Ozpin drummed his fingers on his desk.

"I suppose you could say I need some assistance…" Ozpin began explaining. He just hoped James would be of help and not jump straight to his 'General" mindset.

* * *

" _So, let me get this straight…"_

The Bas captain tried to avoid swallowing as he looked back at the Frost Demon Commodore that was currently addressing him, nicknamed Frostbite by the crews of many a ship. An apt name, as his face was of matching color to the namesake, and all who witnessed him on the battlefield were chilled to the bone.

" _You sent two of your crew down to the surface of the planet on a procedural scouting mission, only for them to encounter a Saiyan, of which there are only unconfirmed accounts of two still alive might I add, and he killed both of them."_ Frostbite summarized. The Bas nodded vigorously.

" _And, what exactly was his last recorded power level before he killed your troops?"_ The Frost Demon asked.

"723, sir. Our troops power levels were 836 and 917 respectively, sir." The Bas answered, trying desperately to keep the stutter out of his voice.

" _Now isn't that strange? Both of them were stronger than this Saiyan and they still lost. Now tell me, what was the average power level of the Saiyans when lord Frieza had them under his command?"_ Frostbite pressed. The Bas did swallow this time.

"Approximately 2000, sir." The Bas answered.

" _So I imagine that this Saiyan is rather young and/or inexperienced, correct? So, it's safe to say that the sheer incompetence you and your crew routinely display has only gotten worse. You know, I sent you to that world because I assumed that this job was the one, the only job that literally no one could screw up, but I suppose I should prepare accolades, since you dimwits have done the impossible."_ Frostbite bit out as he glared at the Bas through the screen.

" _Make no mistake, you will return from that world as conquerors, or you will not return at all. If you call upon me for aid once again, I will send three more crews to kill you and your crew, repossess your ship and clean up planet 616 for sale. Do I make myself clear?"_ The Frost Demon declared. The Bas dropped to his knees in a bow and nodded his head frantically, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Yes, sir! You make yourself abundantly clear, sir!" The Bas answered in hysterics.

" _Wonderful. Get to work."_ Frostbite growled before terminating transmissions.

The Bas staggered back into his captain's chair, rubbing his forehead with a handkerchief.

"We need to get that monkey." The Bas muttered as he tried to calm his heart.

* * *

Gula frowned as he finished packing his things into his bag. He needed to leave. He didn't know where he could go, but he had to go somewhere that wasn't here. Maybe fly back to Mistral and try to find some good training there. Maybe he'd go to Vacuo. The harsh desert might yield good training.

He'd gotten his hands on a map of Remnant some time ago and examined it, noting that wherever there was a marked sigil, there was an ongoing population. He looked it over and found the single most isolated location he could find, settling on an island to the south of Mistral. Probably a few days flight, but also hard to miss. Living for so long in the mountains had given him a good eye for landmarks. Plus, flying up just below the cloud line would let him find the island with much more ease.

Having settled on a location, Gula pulled the bag over his shoulder and floated up into the air, taking a moment to get his bearings. According to the map, he had to fly south-east. After determining that direction he took off, flying just below the cloud line so that he could still see the landscape below him. He was flying just below the speed of sound and closing the distance between himself and his destination. Before he knew it, he was over Remnant's ocean. The endless expanse of blue was oddly calming to him. His mind slipped back a bit to the time he'd spent training the Beacon students. He smiled a bit at the memories. Teaching had been pretty fun. Now that he thought about it, training Ash, Ingo and the others had been a highlight of his days back in Mistral. Still, he couldn't help but feel that he'd been… limited, while training them. He'd definitely seen plenty of improvement from them, but he felt he'd have seen more if he'd been able to cut loose a little more, show them what could be possible for them, though not by teaching them Ki. From what he'd heard, Ki was basically completely unknown on Remnant, which was sadly another point on how far the planet had to go. Well, at first glance anyway. It did have one thing that made it stand out.

Aura was fascinating to Gula. The ability to harness the physical manifestation of one's soul for offence and defence was interesting to say the least. He suspected that Aura was the chief reason why the people of Remnant had yet to discover Ki manipulation. With Aura, they simply didn't need it unless something happened to force them to discover it, as the Grimm had forced them to discover Aura.

It was also a young power, relative to Ki. Ki had existed and been manipulated since intelligent life began in the universe, while it seemed that Aura had only existed as a power for as long as Remnant had intelligent life. That would explain why it was underdeveloped, compared to Ki. Conceivably, if Aura were to be discovered and gain traction in the cosmos beyond Remnant, it could grow to be an even greater power.

Of course, that all assumed that Remnant would still be here to spread that knowledge, also assuming they developed a functional space program and got off this rock. Hopefully, he could make the former happen with some training and luck.

Gula shook his head and pressed forward, taking a look down at the ocean. Looking back, he couldn't even see land anymore. Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Looking down, Gula could see a vessel of some kind, trundling along through the water. It looked pretty sizable, probably a civilian transport of some kind. Then he realized that it was probably heading in the same direction as him!

Taking a moment to reorient himself with the ship, Gula shot forward, breaking the sound barrier and rocketing towards his destination. He smirked to himself, imagining what thoughts must be going through the heads of whoever was on the vessel below as the sonic boom sounded behind him.

After about ten, maybe fifteen minutes of additional flight, Gula saw his destination rapidly approaching. He flew up into the clouds and started looking for a good place to descend. He chose further behind the island, dropping down in the desert that made up the bulk of the island. He hadn't touched quite yet. He wanted to find a settlement first.

As he flew over the dunes, he noted that there were several peculiar divots in the ground, perfectly conical. He watched as some sort of reptile, about as long as Gula's arm, stumbled into one of the holes and slipped down the side. Suddenly, a massive insect erupted from the ground and seized the lizard in massive front mandibles, dragging it under the sand!

"Okay, I don't need to deal with that. No landing as long as I'm near one of those pits." Gula muttered as he kept flying.

Soon enough, he reached what seemed to be the only settlement on this island. It seemed a bit… cramped, but he noticed that there weren't any humans. The entire population, as far as he could see, were faunus.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about tail pulls here." Gula muttered as he looked around. He doubted he could just sneak in. Despite the size of the settlement, he'd probably wind up noticed pretty quickly. Then he remembered the vessel that approaching the island. It would probably make landfall in a few hours. He could pretend to disembark among the passengers and no one would be the wiser.

So he waited patiently, watching for the vessel to appear on the horizon. It would probably be a few hours before it arrived, so he had plenty of time to sit and think. His mind immediately started drifting back to the fight from last night, his mind dissecting the fight, move by move.

At the moment, he had precisely four techniques that he could effectively use in a fight: The Comet Shot, Riot Session, Leonid Burst and that shield technique he'd come up with mid-fight. He still needed a name for that, but it worked well enough. Well, there was one problem with it. It sucked up more energy than he was comfortable with, making it not really ideal for drawn out fights. Plus, he hadn't given it a proper stress-test yet. Still, it had potential if he could develop it properly.

The Leonid Burst was a technique he'd been thinking up ever since he got the Comet Shot down. It had started out as a method of crowd control, though it hadn't really panned out as intended. It was still good for fighting groups, but only groups of about three or four. It also had the advantage of not sucking up as much Ki as the shield or Riot Session, using only slightly more than the Comet Shot. It was probably the most versatile technique of his current arsenal, now that he thought about it. It still needed a bit of fine-tuning, but aside from the Comet Shot, it would probably become his go-to technique.

However, he still needed something for groups exceeding five or more. And could be effectively used at close range. The Leonid Burst's firing current firing pattern made it more ideal for mid to long range fighting. He could always tweak it a bit, but he liked the attack as it was. For the moment, at least.

No, he needed something else, and he had a good idea of where to start.

However, His thoughts were interrupted by the blasting of a loud horn, coming from the direction of the docks. He turned and realized that the vessel had made port!

"How long was I out of it for?" Gula muttered to himself before flying to the ocean and diving in, using his Ki to propel himself through the water until he reached the ship. He flew out behind it and flared his Ki to dry off before landing at the rear of the disembarking group of passengers. Luckily enough, no one noticed him, and he was free to disembark without incident. After that, he simply began asking around for a local inn where he could stay the night. He was still needed to pick over the fight more thoroughly, as well as find a way to more reliably build his strength. Both of those required more rest, as well as food. Lots of food.

Eventually, Gula found lodging for the night and went to find dinner. His lien pouch felt lighter than he felt comfortable with after he'd paid for dinner, making him frown a bit. He'd probably need to find some odd jobs or start hunting again, though he wasn't sure what food he'd find out here on this island, Menagerie, he believed the locals called it.

"I wonder of those giant bugs are edible…" He mused to himself as he lay down on the bedding of his room. After a few more minutes, sleep overcame him, and the room was filled with the sound of sawing logs.

* * *

Qrow grumbled to himself as he took another swig from the glass in front of him.

It'd been about fifteen minutes since he'd passed word to one of Raven's ears that someone was looking for her, and that they'd be located at this particular establishment. Likely, the message had been received about five minutes ago. The bar he was currently seated in was located in a good-sized Mistral town. It had decent defences and good trade, seeing as how the town had survived this long. As a bonus, it also had an excellent selection of whiskey and wine. However, Qrow was having trouble enjoying said selection, due to his ever-mounting impatience.

Qrow had no doubt that Raven knew who had dropped the hint and was metaphorically dragging her feet to get here. Honestly, the only thing keeping him here was that he wanted to see her face when he showed her the footage. Otherwise he'd have left by now and left her fuming at having travelled all this way and finding Qrow to be missing, forcing her to open a portal to him anyway.

"You better have a very good reason for calling me here, Qrow. I was in the middle of something important."

Qrow didn't even bother looking over his shoulder as he heard his twin's voice approaching from behind. Qrow smirked a little bit as Raven took a seat across from, looking at him expectantly.

"Let's just say Oz an I need a favor…" Qrow began before holding up a finger as Raven immediately stoop up to leave.

"Don't worry, it's nothing related to _her._ Besides, you'll want to hear this." Qrow baited. Raven glared at him for a few seconds before growling as she took her seat again.

"Make it quick." She bit out. Qrow removed his scroll from his pocket and cued a selection of video footage, depicting Gula rampaging through whole packs of Grimm with ease.

"Take a look at the footage. All of it." Qrow told her. Raven took the scroll and watched it all through, rewatching it a few times before handing it back to him.

"Alright, you have my attention. Why are you showing me this?" Raven inquired. While Qrow started cueing up another video, he continued explaining.

"Oz got it into his head that he should get this kid to do a two-week training session with a few volunteer students. They almost got to the end of the two weeks, then something happened. Something or someone attacked the group. None of the students died or were injured, but you wouldn't care about that. Anyway, here's what you will care about." Qrow explained before handing her the scroll again. She watched the video several times, her mouth agape with shock. Qrow wished he had a camera to capture the moment forever, but it was sadly being used to create the moment in question.

"That's why we brought this to you. Both me and Oz would love to keep an eye on this kid, but we're too stretched thin as it is. Who or whatever this kid is, he's wrapped up in something dangerous that doesn't seem to relate to _her,_ so we figured we'd ask you to cover it. After all, this is the kind of thing you like to keep an eye on, right?" Qrow baited. Raven handed back the scroll, eying Qrow carefully.

"If I was to help you with this, where would I start looking?" Raven asked. Qrow shrugged.

"Well, he was last seen in Vale's mountain range. He's probably not there anymore, but it's as good a place to start as any." Qrow informed her. Raven stood up and turned to leave, but Qrow grabbed her wrist. She immediately moved to draw her sword, but the look in Qrow's eyes made her pause.

"Raven, listen to me on this one. Do not, under any circumstances, let the kid know that we're keeping tabs on him. The last thing we need is someone capable of… well, all that, gunning for everyone who he even slightly suspects is watching him." Qrow warned. Raven eyed him a bit more before tugging her wrist free and walking out of the bar. A minute or so later, Qrow saw a black bird take flight, heading towards Vale. He took a moment before downing the rest of his Whiskey before walking out of the bar.

"Man, I really hope she doesn't try to kill him…" Qrow muttered as he looked for somewhere private to transform. He had work to do.

* * *

 **And now we end chapter 11! Next time, we'll be going somewhere… well, you'll see.**

 **Creativity: HE'S GONE BATSHIT CRAZY!**

 **Author: No, I have not. I've ALWAYS been batshit crazy!**

 **Anyway, that's chapter 11 done! Not much to say until next time, but I'll have PLENTY to talk about then.**

 **As usual (Now, at least) The current Discord server code is in the AN above, I hope to see you there! Have a wonderful day, see ya next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Alright, chapter 12! Lets get into it!**

 **So, I'm close to finishing up Before's first chapter, which shouldn't take too long. I'm trying to do shorter chapters for my primary stories from now on. Too long chapters really killed it for me while working on Idea.**

 **Creativity: Plus, they make my legs break out in sores.**

 **Author: Did not need you to share that.**

 **Anyway, we broke another milestone for reads per day again, with a new record of 748! Here's hoping we reach 1K in the next few chapters!**

 **What else… Oh yeah! CRAZY stuff in this one! No spoilers, but you will be calling me insane by the end of this.**

 **Creativity: You will. Oh, here's the new Discord Server passcode:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: Normally that's my shtick, but I'll let you have that.**

 **Oh, and a Happy Birthday to Kobster the Giant on the Discord server!**

 **Alright, I think that covers everything! I present chapter 12 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula groaned as he stretched. What lingering soreness he had felt from his battle with the PTO scouts had faded and he felt a bit more invigorated. The smell of the ocean also helped, now that he thought about it.

As he gathered his things and stepped out of his rented room, his thoughts immediately turned to the desert that made up the majority of the island. Aside from the traps those giant insects had dug (which he could easily avoid via flight) and the heat (which Ki also helped with) he wasn't sure what other dangers would lurk in the vast expanse of sand dunes. He knew water had to be out there somewhere. Those insects had to be surviving off of something out there, and he doubted they got the water they needed from just their prey items. The issue would be finding it. That problem was immediately followed by food. That wouldn't quite be an issue if he could locate a source of fresh water near the ocean, as unlikely as that was. Then he could just catch fish for food, as boring as that would be.

And of course, that all discounted the fact that the desert likely had other dangers. Those giant insects couldn't be the only dangers in the desert. He'd heard from both his siblings when they didn't know he was listening that desert planets were always frustrating to deal with because the harsh environments forced residents to become incredibly tough, vicious and all around dangerous, just to survive. Gula knew he would do well to remember that, even if the desert here was much smaller. With the resources to survive so scattered, the residents would be making use of every scrap they could get, and he had no intention of being among those scraps.

After buying a few canteens, he filled them all with water and purchased a few rations before finding a safe place to take off. That task was borderline herculean, what with how crowded Menagerie was, but he finally found somewhere secluded enough that he could fly to the desert without being spotted. As he shot over the desert, his eyes scanned for oases, wells, any kind of fresh water source that he could make use of. So far, he wasn't finding anything.

"Come on, there has to be _something_ I can use out here…" Gula muttered as he continued scanning the desert. Thankfully, the high elevation would prevent him from seeing mirages, but that still didn't mean anything if there was no water source that he could use.

"If I flew all the way out here for nothing, I am going to get REALLY pissed off…" Gula grumbled under his breath as he kept searching. The heat of the desert wafted up from the sands in waves. Even if the Ki he was using to shield his body was doing its job, he could still feel the waves of hot air rolling past him.

"This is starting to look hopeless." Gula muttered before something caught his eye. He looked a little closer and reduced his elevation to get a good look at what had caught his eye and was immediately confused. He was looking at what appeared to be ancient ruins of some kind, mostly buried under the ever-shifting sands. There was only a few feet of decrepit stone towers, but it was still curious.

Gula flew down and landed near the pillars before examining them more closely. There appeared to be glyphs of some kind etched into the stones, though most of them were likely illegible by now. What was interesting was that they seemed to continue down under the sand, indicating that there was more to read. If Gula could read, that was. Besides, these glyphs looked nothing like the ones he'd seen everywhere else on Remnant, indicating that this language was probably old and not widely written, read or spoken anymore, if at all.

Still, Gula's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to know more about this structure, which meant he'd have to remove the sand. After making sure his things were deposited at a safe distance before flying back to the pillars. After positioning himself between them, he began to power up, the force of which began created winds that blew the sand away from the structure, gradually revealing more and more of the structure, to the point where Gula had soon exposed what looked like the top of some sort of fortress or temple.

"Now, what do we have here?" Gula wondered aloud as he kept shifting away sand by powering up or using carefully aimed Ki blasts. While he didn't particularly care for the structure, he'd prefer it to not collapse before his curiosity was sated.

Soon enough, he found what appeared to be an entrance not too far from the top of the structure. He stepped inside and was pleased to find that there wasn't more sand obstructing his way. Oh, there was definitely sand, and lots of it, but it wasn't going to obstruct the pathway forward.

Gula floated through the sand-filled hallways, looking around at this strange place. What was probably most fascinating about it was the fact that the place was filled with Dust. There were red Dust crystals in the corridors to provide light, each about the size of a shoe box. There were decorative patterns on the walls, all inlaid with powdered Dust of varying colors. Suddenly, Gula was glad he was so careful with his blasts when uncovering this place. One misplaced blast and all of this Dust would have gone off in spectacular manner.

As Gula continued further and further down the hallways of this strange place, he couldn't help but feel that there was something… off about it. It wasn't just that the place existed, though that was strange enough, what with the crazy wildlife. No, what felt strange was that despite how ancient the place looked and how long it had gone uncared for (as evidenced by the piles of sand that littered the corridors), It felt like there was something still living here.

"Seriously, why am I so worried about this? I could level this place with one blast right now if I wanted to." Gula muttered to himself as he proceeded down a flight of stairs, deeper underground, against what his instincts were telling him. Even if he was starting to have a bad feeling about this place, he also had a feeling that there was something down here for him. What it was, he couldn't even guess.

* * *

Raven was frustrated. One wouldn't guess she was frustrated, since she rarely looked anything other than annoyed by the presence of others, but she was annoyed, nonetheless.

"Where could that kid possibly have gone that I can't find him?" She ground out as she examined the remains of the battleground. The first thing she'd done once she left the bar was have all of her contacts in the kingdoms try to find everything they could about the kid that Qrow had shown her on the scroll, Gula she'd been told, but that had turned up dry. No birth records, no pictures, no addresses, only a small handful of familial connections, which she chased down and immediately dismissed as non-related. The fact that there was no Faunus blood in any of the potential connections was a good indicator that they'd all be dead-ends.

After that, she flew to where the battle Qrow had shown her on his scroll. When she arrived, she investigated the abandoned campsite, but found nothing that would indicate where he had gone to. Of course, she'd also put her contacts in the kingdoms on high alert for anyone matching his description, but she wasn't sure how reliable they'd be. When questioned about him, she simply said he was a potential recruit.

At the moment, Raven was just finishing a sweep of the battleground and heading back to the campsite when she noticed something she'd dismissed on her first pass. The stone tile sparring ring that Gula had apparently constructed. She went down to examine it and frowned. Each tile was cut impeccably smoothly, to the point where you would have thought a professional had done this. However, this was just a sixteen-year-old kid, with no tools as far as she could tell.

"How does he do it…?" She wondered to herself before her scroll started buzzing. She had it on a specially encrypted line, so she knew that it was one of her contacts. According to the code, it was one of her Vale-based ones.

"Yes?" She answered, impatience seeping into her voice.

" _Good afternoon, Nevermore. I found some information about that boy you had me tracking."_ Her contact replied. Raven's interest was immediately caught.

"It had better be good, or we'll have to have another discussion about wasting my time." Raven stated, smirking a bit as she heard a few nervous noises on the other side of the connection.

" _Y…yes, of course. Well, apparently, the boy was arrested in Vale a few months ago and a small file was kept on him. According to this, he has no citizen registry in any of the kingdoms, no I.D, not even a scroll. However, he claims he comes from a village located near the Mistral mountain ranges. Wait, not quite. He lives in the wilds nearby and goes there regularly to trade."_ The contact told her. Raven rubbed her chin thoughtfully. That information sounded familiar. Then it clicked.

"This town wouldn't happen to be on the other side of the mountains, opposite camp?" Raven asked the contact.

" _Yes, I believe so. Why do you ask?"_ the contact asked, though Raven had already hung up and was muttering a string of curses before transforming into her namesake and flying as fast as she could back to Mistral.

" _Of course it would come back to that empty crater! How could something make that crater and not leave anything behind?! Maybe it just stood up and walked away!"_ Raven ranted in her head. However, as the miles wore on, she forced herself to slow down and review everything she knew and start constructing a timeline.

Assuming that this crazy theory was correct and that Gula had literally fallen from the sky, he would have been on Remnant for about six years. He'd spent most of that time not straying much further than Grassbed village, regularly trading game to them in exchange for whatever he needed. Then he started travelling for some reason. Did he leave on a whim, or did he feel he needed to? Likely on a whim, since he wouldn't have bothered to stay in Vale as long as he did if he had already been targeted. For that matter, he wouldn't have accepted Ozpin's offer for that training trip.

Then, someone showed up that had pushed him into a deathmatch, which he had won. Raven hadn't seen the body, nor had she seen pictures, but she had seen the devastation that had been wrought by the fight, and it was safe to say that Gula had been fighting with everything he had. That alone should be concerning, since it meant that there were creatures out there that were just as, if not more powerful than Gula. After winning that fight, Gula seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet, which brought her to her current problem: She had no idea where to look for him.

Thus, the only other option was to start at the beginning. She'd start at the crater from the crash and start searching every crevice she could to find for clues about Gula's origins.

* * *

As Gula marched further down into the ruins, he was starting to seriously consider turning back and forgetting all about this place. Despite his belief that there wasn't anything down here that could even harm him, some primal instinct within him said that this place was to be avoided at all costs. And still he kept walking forward. Why did he keep walking forward?!

But walk forward he did, and he had noticed that the Dust crystals that had lit his way before had dimmed out or were just flat-out missing. Soon he was travelling in the dark. He simply powered up and let his Ki light the way forward. Soon, he could see what looked like the end of the corridor he was walking down. He also noticed a disconcerting number of weapons, armor and the occasional fragments of human/faunus skeletons.

Soon enough he reached the end of the corridor, which opening into a massive chamber that Gula couldn't see the end of. He could see what looked like an ivory statue in the middle of it though, standing about 75 feet tall. It looked vaguely humanoid, though it had a tail and clawed hands, as well as what looked like heavy armor on its neck and back, giving it an almost hunchback look, with yellow gemstones for eyes. The detailing on the statue was incredible, almost as if it could spring to life at any moment. And then the gemstones vanished for a second before coming back.

That wasn't a statue.

Gula immediately sprang back as a deafening roar sounded through the chamber, barely avoiding the claws of the massive beast, which Gula now identified as a giant Grimm, though one unlike any that he had ever seen before. It's massive eye, about thrice as large as Gula's head, peered down the tunnel at him before narrowing.

"You aren't the first to avoid the swing, though I must say I am impressed by your reflexes. Unfortunately, those reflexes won't do you much good if there is nowhere to dodge to." A booming voice announced. Gula deftly covered one of his ears to lessen the assault on his ears before his eyes widened as the Grimm opened its jaws, which began to glow blood-red, energy of that very color collecting in its mouth. Gula immediately sprang back and began charging a Comet Shot, unleashing it in time with the creature's own attack! Gula was surprised by the Grimm's power, though it was far from a match for his own. Just the slightest increase in power and the beam was pushed back and detonate in the Grimm's face! The Grimm retreated, yelping in surprise before hacking and coughing. Gula would have pressed forward, if not for his shock and curiosity about a Grimm that could speak!

"You can talk?" Gula called out, flaring his Ki as a precaution. The Grimm managed to stop its coughing fit before turning to him.

"Well obviously, you just heard me do so. Though I must say that I am deeply impressed by your power. Not since the days that my master walked this earth did I see a human who was capable of such feats." The Grimm replied, surprising Gula with just how well-mannered the voice sounded. The Grimm approached the platform Gula was standing on but stopped a decent distance away before narrowing its eye and lifting a claw.

"Would you stop that glow? I find it unpleasant." The Grimm requested in a tone that seemed more demanding than polite. Gula narrowed his eyes.

"How do I know that the moment I do, you won't try to eat me again?" Gula asked. The Grimm's face contorted into what Gula guessed was the approximation of a smile.

"You don't, but I will say that I'm entirely too fascinated by you to bother eating you right now. Besides, I haven't had a visitor in ages. I lost track how long I've been trapped down here after the second millennium." The Grimm answered. Gula's eyes widened a bit.

"You've been down here for over two thousand years?!" Gula exclaimed. The Grimm's 'smile' widened.

"Likely more akin to four thousand, but it hardly matters now, does it? My kind are immortal, though not invincible. But enough about me. I want to hear more about you. After all, not just anyone can overpower me in the manner you did. Like I said, not since the days of my master was there a creature of your form that was capable of besting me. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?" The massive Grimm inquired as Gula indulged the Grimm and let the aura around him die down a bit, though not entirely. He still wanted to be able to see the giant Grimm, after all.

"Well, considering I'm talking to a multi-millennium old Grimm, I nothing can sound as crazy as what I'm about to say. Well, my name is Gula and I'm not actually from Remnant. I'm from a planet called Vegeta, named after the king of my species, the Saiyans." Gula told the Grimm, who made a strange noise in its throat.

"I don't exactly have a point of reference, but your story does sound quite far-fetched. So then, Gula of the Saiyan race, how exactly did you come to this world? I imagine that the tale is quite fascinating." The Grimm prompted. Gula rolled his eyes.

"Not really. I got on my father's bad side even more than usual and he banished me from home in secret. Apparently, I lucked out, since it wasn't too long after that the planet was blown up by an intergalactic tyrant. That's actually related to why I came here in the first place." Gula explained. The Grimm made that weird noise again, and Gula realized that it was a sound of amusement.

"You really are a fascinating creature. Very well, then. You've told me your history, so I shall deign to share my own. My master was one of two brothers, each possessing equal and opposite power, immeasurable. The two competed endlessly in creation, each seeking to outdo the other, leading to the creation of my kind. I was among the first of my master's creations and saw this feud continue for many a cycle. Until one day, the two brothers decided to end their stalemate by creating one final creation together, giving rise to mankind. I never wandered much further than my master's domain, but I would occasionally hear whispers of mankind, of their prowess in the arcane, but I didn't give it much thought. I was still a young Grimm and weak of mind, little more than a beast at my master's beck and call, after all." The Grimm regaled. Gula filed that information away. It could prove useful later. Besides, it sounded like this was stuff that was lost to time, which gave Gula a small amount of satisfaction that he knew about it. However, the Grimm wasn't done talking.

"Then, something strange happened. A human came before my master, demanding that another human be returned to life. My master obliged at first, though when it was revealed by my master's brother that he had been tricked into returning the human to life, my master returned him to death. It is my understanding that the human was then cursed with eternal life." The Grimm continued. Gula cocked his head to the side.

"Wait, living forever? How exactly is that a curse?" He questioned. The Grimm swiped its tail in an irritated manner.

"Well, being trapped underground and unable to die without being killed calls to mind the thought of being cursed, but that's just my opinion. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. The human managed to build an army and set about waging war against my master and his brother, but it did not end favorably for them. My master used his power and wiped the planet clean of all humans before he and his brother abandoned the world, taking the power of the arcane with them. Without my master, I became wild, truly mindless. But I did not stay that way. Through survival and battle, I became stronger, more intelligent. I rose to become one of the mightiest of my kind. And then, something strange happened. I felt a pull, similar to that of my master. I could tell that it wasn't my master the moment I felt it, but I was intrigued, nonetheless. I journeyed back to the land of my master, only to find a human commanding my kin. The same human who had once come before my master, in fact. However, despite their strength, I was unimpressed and refused to follow their commands." The Grimm continued yet more. Gula was more curious about this 'arcane' that the Grimm kept mentioning. Ki was one of two military superpowers that decided how your military fared on the intergalactic stage. The other was magic. If Gula was to take what the Grimm was saying at face value, then it sounded like Remnant initially had the makings of a world that could fend for itself, if it had been allowed to continue on its original course.

"Interesting stuff. So what happened after you refused to listen to this new leader?" Gula inquired. The Grimm was all to happy to answer.

"I left and wandered the world, seeking battle. Imagine my surprise when I happened across a human colony. It seemed that humans had returned to the world, in spite of my master's efforts. They were hardly comparable those gone, however. Not even a spark of the arcane was with them. However, the lack of challenge bred arrogance and complacency within me, which the humans of this island found a way to exploit. They constructed a trap to contain me so that they would kill me from safety. However, no weapon they possessed could pierce my armor. Still, I was trapped and could not escape. They eventually built walls around my prison, sealing it so that no light would ever break through the cracks." The Grimm concluded. Gula pondered the tale a bit before asking more questions.

"Where did you learn to speak?"

"Well, I was already one of the most intelligent beings on the planet when I was captured, making my imprisonment all the more humiliating. After I was trapped, I would regularly hear the humans speak. After some time, I learned your language and used to occasionally whisper to my captors. It was very entertaining to see them lose their minds when they realized I was speaking to them. More than once I drove them to kill themselves, oh how gratifying it felt to hear their screams as they threw themselves from the peak of my prison." The Grimm reminisced. Gula winced at the thought.

"Oh, how silly of me! I still haven't asked you why you came down all this way. Oh, and tell me about the surface above. I imagine that much has changed in the last few thousand years." The Grimm inquired.

"Right. Well, remember how I mentioned the galactic tyrant that blew up my original planet? Well, I recently learned about that because two scouts from his empire recently came to Remnant in preparation to render it devoid of life, so they can sell it. I killed both of them, but there'll be more coming, and I won't be able to defeat them all at my current level. I came here originally to train and get stronger so that when they show up again, I'll be ready. As for what the surface is like, your prison is almost entirely buried under a desert. I managed to excavate an entrance near the top, but I only spotted it because there were some stone pillars sticking out of the ground and I can fly." Gula explained. The Grimm made that chortling sound again.

"Well, well… You are a fascinating creature. Since you've been so entertaining, I'll provide you with some assistance." The Grimm replied, scratching its claws against the sides of the prison. Gula's eyes widened.

"If you're offering to spar with me, the result will be you, and possibly me, being buried under several hundred tons of rock and sand." Gula pointed out. The Grimm laughed again before turning back to Gula.

"Oh no, I have no intention of engaging in battle with you. However, I did hear tell of another trap that was used to kill another of my kind, similar in stature to me. It was mere mutterings I heard from my captors, but they mentioned a construct of some kind that was capable of using those crystals that my captors used to decorate this prison, as well as light it, to imprison a victim by increasing the victim's weight. The prison is to the north of this place and was originally situated in the center between four mountains. The landscape of this world has not changed so much in these last few millennia that the mountains would be completely gone, and these prisons remain. Of that, I am certain." The Grimm instructed Gula. Gula couldn't believe it. Was there a machine on Remnant that could control the gravity in a localized area? That could be the answer to all his problems! Gula stood to leave but paused for a moment before turning back to the gigantic Grimm.

"Say, do you have a name? It's kind of weird that I got your life story but not your name." Gula pointed out.

"Ah, thank you for mentioning that. The humans who trapped me here referred to me as Magna Malum, but I found the name tiresome. I refer to myself as Tark." The Grimm, now identified as Tark, informed him.

"Well, it was great to meet you, Tark. Now, I have a gravity machine to track down." Gula called back as he jetted out of the prison. Tark chuckled to himself as slowly scratched the walls.

"I have a feeling that we'll be seeing each other again, Saiyan." Tark mused to himself as it stuck a finger down one of the hallways and scraped a few bones out of them before tossing them in its mouth, crunching them in thought.

* * *

Ozpin frowned as he looked out the window, gazing at the Atlesian fleet that had touched down on Beacon's landing platform. General Ironwood was already on his way up, and he had a feeling what had brought him along with his students. Well, aside from the shadow war.

As he listened to Goodwitch mutter angrily about the fleet, he heard the elevator arrive and turned to speak with his friend. After Goodwitch opted to let herself out of the room and James and Ozpin had a brief exchange about the aforementioned shadow war before getting into the second topic that Ozpin had anticipated and was more willing to engage in.

"So, do you have any information about the boy I mentioned? I certainly hope it wasn't any rogue Atlas experiment." Ozpin inquired. James rolled his eyes at the little jab and instead placed his scroll on Ozpin's desk.

"After you contacted me, I was reminded of an investigation the Mistral government asked me to help with a few years ago, so I contacted the two specialists that had been assigned to the investigation and had them do some digging, using the details that you provided. Honestly, I find the implications to be a bit… well, I hope I'm wrong about them." James began before highlighting several screens, which contained a few reports, images and the information that Ozpin had sent to the General.

"Six years ago, a meteorite crashed near the Mistral mountains, about an hour's walk from a village called Grassbed. There had been a global surge in Grimm activity and since Atlas had the only spare troops capable of entering the area, the Mistral council requested I send a team to investigate. They were able to find traces of foreign elements in the crater, but not the object that had made said crater. We figured that someone had taken it before we could arrive, since the region is known for bandits." James explained before Ozpin started to see the pieces falling into place.

"Six years ago is about a year-and-a-half before the boy started trading with Grassbed, he claimed that his parents lived closer to the mountains while he moved closer to the village, his unnatural strength and the color discrepancy between his hair and tail, his illiteracy, the corpse of the creature he did battle with… James, are you suggesting that Gula is an extra-terrestrial being?" Ozpin asked, his fingers dangerously close to dropping his coffee. Ironwood just frowned.

"At this point, it's the only explanation I can think of that makes all of these details make sense. I'll keep looking for another possibility, but there's too much evidence for us to dismiss the possibility out of hand." James muttered. Ozpin sat in his chair with a sigh and placed his coffee on his desk before rubbing his brow. James mirrored his sentiment.

"As if we didn't have enough to worry about with _her,_ now we have a potential alien invasion over our heads." James grumbled. Ozpin held up his hand.

"I wouldn't go that far, James. We've only had three arrive on this planet, with the arrives spaced out by six years. Additionally, the first arrival killed the two that made up the second, meaning that if we are facing down an invasion, we already have a potential ally. Of course, this all assumes that this extra-terrestrial theory is true. I suggest you send a team back to the crater with additional equipment and search for more clues. We'll both keep an ear to the ground for any sightings of the boy. And remember, James; no one can know of this." Ozpin instructed, his voice dropping to a dead-serious tone with the last instruction. Ironwood nodded before turning to leave.

Ozpin rubbed his temples again, trying to relieve the headache that this ludicrous situation was giving him.

"I believe that the two of us are overdue for a very long talk, young man." Ozpin muttered to himself before taking a long draught from his coffee.

"A very long talk, indeed."

* * *

 **And there we end it! So, who saw Tark the talking Grimm coming?**

 **Creativity: Why?! I mean it literally comes out of nowhere!**

 **Author: For one, worldbuilding. For two, I feel that RWBY could definitely do with exploring the concept of the Grimm more. My original theory for who or what Salem is was that that she was a Grimm who had learned and evolved to the point where she became human. I think they did her backstory better in the show, but I think mine would have been a good one as well.**

 **Anyway, for those who want a bit more background, Tark is one of, if not the oldest Grimm on the planet, being older than Salem and Ozpin themselves. As for design, I drew heavy inspiration from Fyrus from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Dehaka from Starcraft. Incidentally, I envision Tark's voice to be VERY similar to Alarak's (Again, Starcraft) though slightly more guttural.**

 **And don't worry, this isn't the last we've seen of Tark. I like him way to much to just use him once.**

 **Creativity: And now Gula knows the legend of Remnant's creation!**

 **Author: Well, kind of. He's got the framework of it, but he doesn't have any names to slot in.**

 **And also for those of you wondering, Salem still can't control him. He's too intelligent and powerful for her to brute-force control him.**

 **Well, I believe that covers everything! Discord Server is above, please join if you have further questions or just want to chat!**

 **Oh, and credit to mediaocrity4, who inspired Raven's codename of Nevermore in their ongoing series: RWBYond.**

 **Now that covers everything. Have a wonderful day, see you next time!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again, everyone! It's been a little while since I sat down to write for this story, so I'm really excited to get back to work!**

 **Creativity: Not that we haven't been writing, of course. We're working on a few projects right now, trying to get the big project ready ASAP. Man, I am excited for it…**

 **Author: No kidding. So, in terms of work done, we're working on the fourth chapter of chapter set 2 for Resurgence, we've gotten four chapters of Before: KH completed and done some touch-ups to the other stories we put out samples for.**

 **All in all, pretty good progress. If all goes well, I'll be able to announce the big project by the conclusion of Before: KH.**

 **But, that's enough of a progress report! You're here for Limit Breaker!**

 **First, lets do review responses (Most of these already were responded to via PM. This is for everyone else. Also, only responding to chapter 12 reviews):**

 **Cybresamurai: Mainly because Gula is cautious and doesn't know what happens of you mix those powers. Make no mistake, I'll be addressing that later, just not now. Incidentally, that's one of the reasons he isn't teaching anyone Ki. Plus, a few other reasons. I touched on this before, but don't think I went into too much detail. Gula believes that Aura could eventually rival Ki and magic and that the only thing that those powers have on Aura is a head start.**

 **Ushindeshi: The concept has been used elsewhere, but I don't think it's been applied the way I use it. I'll be returning to Tark soon.**

 **Hitmen101: You're very welcome.**

 **Guest: I tried to make him charismatic enough that you'd drop your guard around him. However, he won't attack Gula. He's too fascinated by him.**

 **TheDidactsHand: Glad to see my madness had the (somewhat) desired effect.**

 **hawkeyestratos1996: Yeah, I had the gravity Dust idea for a while and initially thought I'd do weighted clothing (Eugene, I have to ask: Are you psychic?) but then I had the idea for Tark and a gravity machine prison that Gula could retrofit into a training device.**

 **Alright, that's the end of the review responses! Now, Discord password: R23A8zG**

 **And that about covers everything! I hope that covers everything!**

 **Now, let us proudly present chapter 13 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula rocketed through the air as fast as he could. He was nearing the main land again and had been pushing his speed well past the sound barrier. He didn't bother stopping as he made his way towards the Mistral mountains.

"Of course the solution to my problem would be practically in my backyard." Gula muttered as he flew higher into the air, rising well above the incoming mountain peaks. He flew for another half-hour, reviewing what the giant talking Grimm (Which had named itself Tark) had told him. According to Tark, there was a specially designed prison somewhere in the mountain range that had been used to capture and kill a Grimm of similar stature to Tark. The part about the Grimm wasn't particularly interesting to Gula. No, the interesting part was how the prison functioned. Apparently, the prison used gravity Dust to alter gravity within a localized area, allowing one to pin someone to the ground with the gravitational force. Or for Gula's purposes, allow him to train in gravity much greater than Remnant's, thus overcoming the barriers he faced for greater strength.

"He said that the prison was located at the centerpoint between four mountains…" Gula muttered as he started scanning the area below him for anything that lined up with what Tark had told him. So far, he couldn't see anything. He frowned and tried lowering his elevation before noticing something out of the corner of his eye. A large Nevermore was flying through the mountains. Gula frowned at the sight. Given that he had to share aerospace with them, he'd gone on a mass purge of them a couple of years ago. Large ones were already a rare sight before he decided to do away with them entirely. Plus, Grimm had figured out, at least in the area around his mountain, that the territory was to be avoided at all costs, and Nevermores would be just as receptive to that information. So what was one doing out here?

As he dipped lower, he could see a small cluster of Grimm heading into the mountains. In fact, there were small packs of Grimm in many varieties, all coming from different directions heading towards a small cluster of mountains. Gula started putting two and two together and figured they were all heading towards his elusive destination, though the implication as to why was a bit concerning.

As he kept flying, he saw what had to be the four mountains that Tark had spoken of. After circling around one of the mountains, he saw a massive domed structure that looked like an old-fashioned gyroscope had been half-buried in the ground. Hanging down from the middle was a massive construct that had several purple lines running down it. The structure was covered with dirt and moss, obviously from being abandoned for so many years. However, that wasn't nearly as eye-catching as what sat in the center of the massive structure.

Beneath the construct that hung from the structure was a massive statue, about fifty feet tall. It was made of gray stone and looked remarkably detailed. The statue had the appearance of a massive tortoise, though its feet were clawed, and its tail was longer, ending with a hooked blade. Its head looked vaguely lion-esque and was opened to reveal razor sharp teeth. That had to be the Grimm that had been imprisoned and killed here. It also appeared to be what was drawing all these other Grimm here.

"Speaking of which…" Gula muttered to himself as he looked down at the massive collection of Grimm that had started to take notice of his presence. No doubt, they would be a nuisance if he let them stick around.

And so, he set about doing pest control. No matter what Grimm charged him, they all fell the same. About an hour and a half later, with many ki blasts launched, punches and kicks thrown, and the occasional blow landed on him that mainly served to irritate him, he'd cleared out all of the Grimm. Well, save one.

Gula floated over to the massive statue that was now situated in what looked like the blast radius for a massive bomb. The machine was still untouched, but the area around it was smoking and filled with many a crater. Gula eyed the statue once more before charging up a Comet Shot and blasting it straight through the statue, causing it to crumble to pieces. The fragments dissolved to dust not too long after. Satisfied with his handiwork, Gula began to fly around the machine, searching for some way to operate it.

"Come on, there has to be something around here that controls this thing. A button, a lever, something!" He growled as he completed a sweep of the side of the ground-level ring. He then started searching around the top of the ring until he eventually found what he was looking for. There was a cylindrical construct that he had missed in his initial sweep. It was situated on top of the external ring and faced south-west. Looking at it carefully, he could see that the construct had five slots for five fingers. Slipping his in, he tried twisting the dial, but found it wouldn't budge. He stopped and frowned, looking at the machine. He couldn't afford to damage it, so he stopped trying to force the dial to turn and instead started searching for the problem, assuming the problem wasn't simply that the elements had ruined the machine beyond repair.

After a few minutes of thinking, Gula decided just to remove all of the dirt, moss and other assorted debris from the machine to see if that helped. Taking flight, he fired a wide-ranged but incredibly low-powered beam from his hands that dislodged the debris it came in contact with, leaving the area spotless, then flew around the rings a few times to ensure that all of the dirt was shaken free. The process took a while, though not nearly as long as doing it by hand would have. By the end of it, he could see that there was a gear system that appeared to have a few stones and other such stops that prevented them from turning. It was a simple enough matter to remove them and once he had, he flew back to what he believed to be the controls and slipped his hand into unit before trying to turn it. There was certainly more give this time, but it didn't feel like it was ready to activate.

"Come on, what am I missing?" Gula muttered before looking up at the large construct that was hanging from two of the rings. He flew up to it and found what appeared to be an access hatch of some kind. After pulling it open and flying inside, he soon found the problem. Or at least, what he suspected was the problem.

Situated before him was a complicated network of massive purple crystals, which he guessed to be gravity Dust. Each one was precision cut, though their sheer size probably made the process easier. However, it was the network connecting them that proved to be the problem. The network was connected to two strange apparatuses, one of which was probably the emitter system for the gravity field, while the other appeared to be a power source of some kind, which was powered by a single, massive Dust crystal, this one uncut. He guessed that it was lightning Dust, based on the yellow color, but it looked dull and dead. The gravity Dust didn't have that same feel to it. Its color was vibrant and the crystals themselves felt alive.

"Okay, so how do I fix this?" Gula muttered as he stared at the crystal. If he was right, the crystal was, for all intents and purposes dead. How did he get the machine to activate with a dead power source?

He pondered the conundrum for some time before he had a crazy idea.

"If the crystal is dying, what if had a bit more life?" He mused aloud before extending his hand outward to the crystal.

"please don't blow up. Please, for the love of the universe, PLEASE don't blow up." Gula pleaded as he placed his palm on the crystal and started to channel Ki through his body into said crystal. Before his very eyes, the crystal suddenly began to glow from within before its color suddenly became a vibrant yellow! He also could feel an electrical charge running through his body that was building in strength, so he quickly withdrew his hand and leapt back out from the access hatch whence he came. Flying down to the controls, he cautiously grabbed the mechanism again and started twisting. This time, the mechanism operated smoothly. The apparatus above began to unfurl, revealing several large, circular panels, each topped with a gravity dust crystal. Once the apparatus was completely unfurled, Gula noticed a ring in the middle of the disk he was turning light up. Two partitions sank down, while a third rose up as a handle.

"This must be the gravity control." Gula muttered before grabbing it and giving it an experimental twist. Sure enough, the gravity crystals began to glow before creating a glowing purple field. Sticking his arm in experimentally, he could definitely feel that the gravity within the field was greater than outside, but it wouldn't be enough for training purposes. Flying back to the controls, he adjusted it again and stepping into the field, immediately feeling the change in weight. He smirked before jumping a few times to get a feel for the weight.

"Oh, this is definitely going to work." He muttered with a smirk. He immediately left the field and started searching the mountains for the heaviest objects he could find. He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Raven's investigation had been slow-going. That wasn't to say that it hadn't borne fruit, but slow-going all the same. Once she had reached the crater she had investigated six years ago, she immediately began to search the surrounding area for any evidence of Gula's presence. It took some time, but she eventually found some evidence. Namely, there were small craters dotted about the forest, as well as a few collapsed trees that hadn't fallen over naturally, or been cut down with an axe. The damage was likely do to his scuffles with Grimm, though they seemed to be non-existent now. They'd likely figured out that Gula was too much for them to handle, even in a large group and started to simply avoid the area.

After failing to find signs of a shelter on the ground, Raven took to her avian form and began searching the mountains for any sign of a shelter. There were a small number of caves that dotted the mountainside, though she was having trouble finding one that looked like it had been inhabited at some point.

There was also the problem that, according to Qrow, Gula had been out of Mistral for a few months now and had likely hidden away most of his belongings somewhere to avoid any animals or thieves happening upon them, unlikely as it was. Still there'd likely be some evidence of habitation and she would find it if there was.

Searching and searching, she found something with promise. It appeared that a boulder had been moved to cover a cave entrance. She was tempted to simply destroy the rock and investigate but knew that Gula would know that someone had found his home and tampered with it, which would prompt one of two things to happen.

One, he would up sticks and find somewhere else to live. Or two, he would track down whoever had tampered with his home and kill them. Or both. Probably both.

Instead, she shifted into her avian form again to try and pick out what might be behind there. The mixture of smells indicated to her that it was likely a storehouse of some kind and not the cave he typically resided in.

So, she resumed searching, though now she had an area to keep her search restricted to. Sort of. With his strength, as well as the ability to fly, it really widened the area that his cave could be in relation to the storehouse. However, she eventually found something that look like a fit. Slipping inside, the first thing she noticed was that the cave walls and ceiling were remarkably smooth. Almost impeccably so. It called to mind the stone tiles that Gula had made for the sparring ring.

That, coupled with the cave's conspicuous lack of stalactites and stalagmites, which the other caves had sported, indicated that Gula had altered the cave to better suit his needs.

"Well, I know where he's been. Now the question is when he's coming back." She muttered to herself as she made her way out of the cave. Of course, that all assumed that he was going to come back. Wherever he was, he was incredibly well-hidden if Ozpin's network couldn't track him down. That, or he just got around so fast that they couldn't keep up. Probably the latter.

She decided that since her tribe's camp was located not too far away (For her), she would just check in on the location from time to time to see if anyone was home. In the meantime, she had more searching to do. However, it was getting late and it was probably a good idea to check in on her tribe. Even Vernal would have trouble keeping the lot in line.

However, as she returned to her avian form, she flew over a few low peaks and started heading back towards the tribe but noticed what looked like small clouds of smoke rising from a few mountains over. Taking a moment to consider what it could possibly be, she realized that the smoke was rising from an area that was well known for being completely infested with Grimm, making it impossible to travel through the area. Hell, the problem was so bad that no one could even investigate why the Grimm chose that particular place to cluster in.

" _And the only one who could even get in there to start fires would be Gula… Why did I listen to Qrow?"_ Raven thought as she changed course and flew towards the smoke. It took her another half-hour to get there, but she eventually reached the location of the smoke. And what a sight to behold, it was.

Situated between the bases of four mountains was an enormous machine that looked to have been recently dusted off. It appeared to run off of gravity Dust, but she couldn't tell what the Dust was being used for.

Flying a little closer, she could see more clearly that the machine was emitting a field into a localized area and that someone was inside it… working out? The field was making it difficult to make out who it was inside, though she could definitely hazard a guess.

Then it clicked. It was actually pretty obvious when she stopped to think about it. The machine was creating a gravity field that was greater than Remnant's gravity, which the occupant was using for training purposes. And the only person on Remnant she could think of that would need to go this far to get stronger was Gula, given how strong he already was. Which of course, begged another question; Exactly how strong could Gula get?

Well, at least she had found her quarry, and judging by the wide assortment of heavy objects he had littered about the site, he probably wasn't going anywhere, so she could at least return to her tribe for a day or two. She should also probably hold up her end of the bargain and send this information to Qrow

Of course, she had been ignoring the very big questions. Namely, where had that giant machine come from, and how did Gula find out about it?!

* * *

 _Three days later…_

Gula groaned as he lay on his bedroll. He couldn't recall a point in his life where he'd felt so sore. He wasn't sure what scale of gravity he was working in, but the machine probably went up into the high tens' marker, making it all the more impressive that whatever that statue had previously been hadn't been turned into sludge ages ago! Gula had gone up three notches in as many days and the results showed, thanks to his Saiyan biology. His power had shot up pretty high and Gula guessed that he'd probably be in the low to mid two thousands by scouter measurements at this point. Assuming the next group of PTO scouts were on the same level as the ones he'd destroyed before, or even just marginally stronger, he'd be able to handle them no problem.

Still, that didn't mean he could slack off. Gula wasn't going to take any chances. For all he knew, there could be an entire PTO fleet coming to Remnant. As unlikely as that was, considering that he'd only encountered what barely qualified as a scouting party, it was still a possibility and he would rather rip out his own tail and eat it than be unprepared for an all-out attack. On the incredibly small chance that a fleet was coming, he intended to give that fleet a fight the likes of which would become the stuff of legend.

Still, one step at a time. The current step being he needed to allow his body to recover from his latest training session. This latest session had been practicing martial arts for two hours while flying, followed immediately by using his Ki blast moves as quickly as possible, again while flying. He'd gotten the charge time for the Comet Shot down to about two seconds, while flying under intense gravity. That alone was a big win in his book. Aside from that, he'd continued to refine his other techniques, particularly the Leonid Burst. He wanted to try and get more blasts out of a single charge without investing too much energy in the attack. He'd increased the number a bit, though he didn't consider the number that satisfying, so he decided to keep the number of blasts at twelve for now. Instead, he switched to perfecting his shielding technique. He'd come to name it the Corona shield, due to the way the energy around his body made it seem as though he was eclipsing a light source of some kind. It had been a bit harder to train that technique than he had anticipated, though he soon found a way. He learned how to target himself with the Leonid Burst and would repeatedly fire them into the air before using the Corona shield to protect himself from damage. And as a bonus, what damage he did take would be turned into zenkai. Though, the amount of zenkai he would get out of that method of training was basically non-existent when held up against what he was getting out of just training in the gravity field.

As Gula let his body repair and strengthen itself for the next day of training, his mind started drifting to the weeks prior to the PTO showing up. Specifically, the training session Ozpin had roped him into. In all the six years he'd spent on Remnant, perhaps even in all sixteen years of his life, he'd never felt more in his element than as an instructor. And now that he thought about it more, it had felt similar when he was training the kids back at the village.

"Maybe if this whole PTO debacle blows over, I should consider teaching more seriously…" Gula mused as he sat up, groaning as his muscles protested. The sun was beginning its descent below the horizon, which meant it was time for dinner. Thankfully, there was a lake nearby that was filled with an exceptionally large species of fish, which Gula had been making meals of ever since he discovered them. After getting his hands on two of them, he took them back to his camp and set about preparing them for dinner. As he let them roast over the fire, he couldn't help but feel he was being watched. The last time he'd had this feeling was back in Vale, when he'd set up his cliff face camp…

His eyes began to shift about as he looked for any movement that could indicate someone spying on him. As incredibly unlikely as it was that someone could be watching him way out here, where there had probably been a high concentration of Grimm for some time, but he still trusted his instincts over his head when the two were in conflict. After all, better to be safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, there was one thing that could overpower both his head and his instincts: His stomach. And the smell of fish being cooked to perfection immediately turned his mind to food. After checking to make sure the fish was cooked through, he took a moment to appreciate it before the massacre began.

The food didn't last ten minutes. Hell, it barely lasted five. By the end, there was a neat pile of bones next to him as well as two fish heads. Sighing with content that only a full stomach could provide, Gula lay back on his bedroll and looked up at the stars. There was better stargazing out here in the mountains than his camp that had been situated close to Vale. As he looked up at the sky, he couldn't help but feel a pang knowing that Planet Vegeta was no longer up there for him to look for. Some part of him still wanted to explore the world he was born on. He could still remember looking at the crimson skies through his bedroom window. Skies that no longer existed.

"Saiyans just can't hold onto planets, can we?" Gula muttered. Considering their original planet Sadala had been destroyed by in-fighting and planet Vegeta had been destroyed by Frieza's own hand, Gula was beginning to feel almost sorry for Remnant.

"Hopefully Remnant's luck and my own will be better." He murmured as he felt his eyelids growing heavier. Sleep beckoned him, and he soon answered with the sound of sawing logs. Unbeknownst to him, there was a bird perched on a tree not too far away that would not break eye contact from his prone form. A raven, to be precise. Without so much as a croak, the bird leapt from the branch and flew back out of the mountains.

* * *

Ruby was concerned. When they'd returned to Beacon via emergency evacuation from their little training trip, professor Goodwitch had told them they weren't to speak of what had transpired in the forest to anyone until further notice. Neither her or the rest of her team had slept well that night. Ruby hadn't slept at all. The next day, Goodwitch had gathered everyone and informed them that the danger had passed and that they were all safe, Gula was alive and well, and that they were still forbidden from speaking about the incident until a full investigation could be completed. Still, she hated the uncertainty of it all. All of team RWBY, her included, had been dancing around the subject, save for when they first got back to their room after evac. Instead they opted to launch an investigation of their own into the strange business dealings of the White Fang and Roman Torchwick that they had discovered at the docks last semester. However, Ruby felt like whatever had happened on that training trip was big. Those strange flying guys that had attacked them didn't look like any Faunus she'd ever seen or heard of. Even Blake had never heard of anything quite like them. And then there was Gula and that strange energy he wielded.

She wanted to believe that his abilities were simply a rare Aura and Semblance, but it seemed too similar to the energies that the two attackers had used, and the odds of having Semblances that were THAT similar were slim to none. Even similar Semblances had a small attribute that made them unique to the individual, and it wasn't just a difference in color.

And on top of all that, there was what the attackers had referred to him as. They called him something strange. A Say-Yan. What was that? Was it some type of faunus? Blake didn't seem to think so, and nothing came up when she tried searching for it on the CCT.

All of these strange occurrences couldn't just be coincidence, could they? What was Gula wrapped up in? Was it somehow related to the White Fang thing? Was Say-Yan some sort of new derogatory term for faunus? Some new code terminology in the White Fang since Blake's departure? She couldn't guess.

Just more questions in need of answers.

Ruby shook her head and decided to go down to Beacon's gym to practice some of her hand-to-hand. Yang was already down there, so she'd at least have someone to practice with. She had a feeling that if Gula caught wind she started slacking off in that department, he'd get very, very angry.

On her way down to the gym she happened across Pyrrha, who she guessed was also heading to the gym based on the bag of clothes and a towel.

"Hey Pyrrha!" Ruby chirped as she hurried along side her friend.

"Oh, Ruby! Heading to the gym?" Pyrrha asked politely. Ruby nodded.

"Just wanted to practice my hand to hand a little more, since Gula helped me get the hang of the basics." Ruby responded, though she regretted it immediately as the air seemed to get uncomfortable at the very mention of their temporary.

"Yes, I was going to go do some practice of my own. I had a few new ideas for applying my Semblance in combat…" Pyrrha responded. There was silence for a good while before Ruby finally snapped.

"Okay, I can't take it anymore! I need to talk to someone about what happened or I'm going to go crazy!" Ruby exclaimed rather loudly, prompting a few students to look at her funnily. Ruby immediately realized her outburst and shrank down almost comedically while offering a waved apology. Pyrrha winced in sympathy.

"I get the feeling, but maybe lets save it until we get to the change rooms? Assuming they're unoccupied." Pyrrha whispered to Ruby, who merely nodded after drawing her hood over her head in embarrassment.

The rest of the trip down to the change room was without incident and as soon as they were inside and made sure the coast was clear, they started discussing the training trip as they changed.

"Like, what kind of Semblance can shoot lasers at all, let alone lasers that powerful?! Ruby exclaimed as she pulled on her workout shirt. Pyrrha took a moment to respond as she was in the middle of pulling her own shirt off.

"I've been thinking that it's probably some form of Aura manipulation, though the scale to which it's been done has never been recorded, as far as I've heard. Maybe it's a combination of both? It certainly explains why he was able to beat us so easily. The power he was throwing around would have been enough to destroy the ring we were fighting him in, never mind knock us out of it. I'm still having trouble comprehending how much he must have held back during the initial sparring matches." Pyrrha replied. By now, Ruby was making sure her shoes were tied.

"Well, it makes sense why he didn't accept Ozpin's offer to come to Beacon. He makes us look like combat academy rookies!" She muttered before tugging one final time on the laces before walking out of the change room, with Pyrrha not too far behind.

"Well, he certainly had ideas on how we could improve our own fighting styles. I never thought of using my Semblance for augmenting my own strikes, though it seems obvious in retrospect." Pyrrha continued, making Ruby frown.

"I never got that session from him. He promised he would help me come up with a new technique for Crescent Rose if I got good enough at hand-to-hand." She complained as she made her way over to Yang, who was busy lifting the heaviest weights in the gym.

"Hey, Yang! You wanna help me with hand-to-hand?" She asked. Yang's grip immediately became shaky and there was a brief moment of panic before she managed to recover and get the weights back to the rest position before sitting up.

"Ruby, did you just ask me to help you with hand-to-hand?" She asked. Ruby had mostly practiced by herself up to this point and realized she hadn't told Yang that she'd been keeping up with Gula's training.

"Yeah, I did. Do you wanna?" She asked again. Yang grinned and dragged Ruby into a rib-crushing hug. Almost literally.

"My baby sister wants to practice hand-to-hand with me! It's a miracle!" Yang exclaimed through Ruby's air-deprived protests.

"Yang… Air! Need air!" She gasped out, gasping for breath when Yang finally let go.

"Wow, I guess Gula really is a good instructor if he managed to get you to learn hand-to-hand and keep practicing!" she jabbed as her and Ruby walked over to the sparring mats.

"Just don't toss me around more? Please? That's kind of what chased me away from it to begin with." Ruby returned fire. Yang rolled her eyes and took up her standard ready position. Ruby took up her own and the sisters got to work. After all, they knew their former instructor would not tolerate them slacking off.

* * *

 **And that concludes chapter 13! Little bit of catching up with the RWBY gang at the end, Gula fixing and using the gravity machine, Raven tracking him down…**

 **Creativity: I wonder what'll happen there… Oh wait! No I don't! I already know!**

 **Author: Do not lord it over the readers. It's poor form.**

 **Anyway, now we have the gravity machine! Now we just need someone to unleash the results onto… Oh, it's going to be so fun. I already know what that fight is gonna look like and it is going to be sooo BRUTAL!**

 **Welp, I think that's enough from me! Have a good day and see ya next time!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Alright, we're back!**

 **Creativity: And WOW, we've been busy!**

 **Author: No kidding. We finished up the last two chapters to complete the second set for Venom: Resurgence, got another chapter for Before: KH done and now we're working on this. Just as a benchmark, it's May 26 as of this writing, so we've gotten lots done in that time.**

 **Creativity: No kidding. I mean, two of these projects are on a "when it happens" basis, but maybe we should tone down the juggling act.**

 **Author: Eh, I'm not too worried. We're getting shit done.**

 **Alright, let's do review responses:**

 **Eugene: Gula won't be learning any DBZ cast member moves, since he doesn't know the exist. Besides, him learning Blaster Shell would kind of undercut how underpowered he is relative to the DBZ cast. I do appreciate your enthusiasm though.**

 **SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Like I said in PM, it will still be brought to you via printed word**

 **hawkeyestratos1996: Sorry, but no. I already have transformations laid out.**

 **And that's all for chapter 13 reviews! Here's the new Discord Password:** **R23A8zG**

 **It's also the old Discord password! Apparently, I can only have one permanent one and since it's being used on other stories (And I don't want to change it for all my stories every time I upload one new chapter) It'll be staying until such a time as I start syncing up more releases.**

 **Creativity: Is that all?**

 **Author: Yeah, I think that's it. So, shall we?**

 **Creativity: I think we shall.**

 **Author: Very well then! Let us present chapter 14 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula grunted as he heaved a massive boulder above his head. He was honestly amazed that it hadn't crumbled under the intense gravity he'd worked his way up to, but he was thankful for it. He'd been performing various dodges and kicks while keeping the boulder hefted above his head. He could have tried tying it somehow, but he didn't think he could find rope or chain that would have the integrity to keep the boulder secured to his back. So, he had to do it the hard way.

Sensing he was about to reach his limit, Gula marched out of the gravity field's border and felt a wave of relief when the boulder suddenly became much lighter. He set it down it the divot its weight had made when he left it there for a few days and grabbed a canteen of water, draining it down to a quarter, then pouring the rest of it down his back. After taking a few minutes to rest, he walked back into the gravity field and began practicing his techniques. He'd continued developing a counter technique he'd created during the battle with the PTO scouts that he'd taken to calling the Flare Step. He'd developed the technique in conjunction with the Corona Shield. When he took a hit with the shield active, he would cause it to burst while snap-vanishing into a back-spring. While in mid-spring, he would charge up two explosive Ki blasts in his hands and throw them at his opponent. It was better suited for single opponents, but he doubted he'd have too much trouble if he was facing down three or four PTO soldiers. He just wished he had a scouter, so he could check to see the results of his training. He could still feel the difference though. The gravity training was doing wonders for him. As evidence of that, he didn't even need to compress the Comet Shot anymore to achieve the same level of destructive power. Consequently, he had to be careful of how much charge he put into the attack now, since it reached the point of explosion much sooner than before. On that note, he'd begun thinking that he needed new techniques, since now he had all this new strength to work with.

He had two in mind so far, one of which was more of an updated version of the Comet Shot, using most of the same principles. It would certainly be a much more powerful attack than the Comet Shot, but he still needed to work out the fine details on it.

The other attack was something that had been brewing in his head for a while. While the Riot Session was a powerful move, it still had too many drawbacks to be used outside of a one on one fight. He needed something different to round out his skill set. And he had just the idea.

This attack was for close to mid-ranged combat, using Ki to create a wave a few inches away from Gula's hand. The attack could also linger in the air, allowing Gula to create a temporary barrier to deter an opponent while he prepared his next attack. He'd been practicing the basics of the attack for some time, though he was having trouble getting the attack to linger as long as he'd envisioned. His best guess was that it was a regulation issue. He had to find the right density for the energy. Too much and he'd be wasting energy. Too little, and the attack would dissipate too quickly. Much like the Comet Shot, it needed to be a perfect balance.

"Well, at least it won't hurt nearly as much to figure it out." Gula muttered to himself as he threw a few punches, the force of which cause air displacement that could be felt well outside the gravity field. Whirling around, he launched a Comet Shot into a valley between the mountains before deciding that he'd had enough for that day and left the gravity field, shutting it down. He probably could have kept going, but he figured that today it would be better to quit while he was ahead. He wanted to be in top form for the next day, since he wanted to devote it to hashing out his new techniques, which would be best done without the gravity projector, and a full stomach.

Gula then flew down to the lake he'd been using for food and water and collected dinner for that night before flying back to his camp and set about preparing said dinner. As he waited for the fish to finish cooking, he looked up and noticed a bird circling overhead. He frowned. He'd heard a bird, a raven he'd been told they were called, cawing throughout the last few days. He couldn't fathom why one would be hanging around. He buried all of the parts of the fish he didn't eat far enough underground that they wouldn't attract predators to annoy him, so there was no way a bird that small would try to dig them out.

If it wasn't for food, then what was that damn bird doing out here?

"If it keeps hanging around, I might just make a snack out of it." He muttered as he rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the stiffness out of them. The bird flew around and landed on a nearby tree, where it started cawing. And it kept cawing every few minutes. There were times when he thought it would break its streak, only to caw at the last second.

Eventually, he got sick of it and just threw a Ki blast at the tree and erasing it from existence. Unfortunately, the raven didn't follow suit, though it did appear to take a hint and flew off. Though he could still hear it cawing as it flew off.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to roast it over a fire if it comes back." Gula decided before the smell of cooked fish banished said thoughts from his mind as he looked back at dinner and grinned ear to ear at the sight and smell of perfectly cooked fish. He immediately set to work on eating his giant fish-kebabs. After the slaughter had concluded, Gula yawned contentedly and decided to do his nightly stargazing from one of the nearby mountaintops. After selecting a peak with a comfortable spot to lay on his back, he started his nightly ritual.

As he watched the stars begin to fill the night sky, he couldn't help but feel that he was still being watched. He frowned as he sat up and looked around, his eyes scanning the horizon and his ears pricked for any signs of a spy. When he didn't notice anything, he felt a faint pang of frustration. He'd had this sense for days now, and it was growing evermore frustrating. He had no doubt that his instincts were onto something, but he couldn't figure out what that something actually was, and it was frustrating him to no end.

Letting out an irate huff, Gula realized that he wouldn't be able to enjoy stargazing tonight and flew back down to his bedroll and lay down on it, fuming a little that whatever was setting his instincts off had ruined his nightly ritual. He lay on his side, tail twitching with his irritation. Eventually, he calmed down enough to fall asleep, though it was still a restless slumber. Aside from his instincts that he was being watched, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen. And the last time he'd had a feeling like that, he'd fought two PTO scouts to the death.

* * *

After days of observation, Raven had come to the conclusion that, while completely inadvisable, she was going to confront Gula about his incredible strength. That, and she was still miffed that he'd blown up the tree she'd been perched in. The issue was exactly how to confront him. This would take a great deal of finesse. Raven was used to always having control of a given situation, be it negotiating with other bandit tribes, leading her own tribe or a simple battle, be it with people or Grimm. Up until now, the only one she acknowledged was in control of a battle was Salem, but then came Gula. It infuriated her that a mere boy could have power that outclassed that of a Maiden's, but the proof lay before her. And if that wasn't enough, he was getting stronger by the day!

All of this meant that when she confronted him, she'd have to remember that by virtue of his sheer strength, he was in control and would have to deal with that. From there, she'd have to try and get information out of him somehow. Threats obviously wouldn't work, which was usually her fallback. Flattery might work, but it could just as easily backfire. She hadn't been able to get a good read on his personality so far, which meant she couldn't figure out how best to coax information out of him.

There was the straightforward approach and just asking him. Doing so in a suitably non-aggressive manner could possibly yield results. Given what little she'd heard about his social interactions, he didn't come across as particularly aggressive, though he could have been faking it. Raven had found it best to assume that anyone that was much stronger than you would intend to do so at some point during an interaction, thus she was never caught off-guard.

Of course, she also made a point to NOT interact with those people, and now she was about to go out of her way to potentially get killed, just because Qrow and Ozpin needed some information on one of said people. Why had she agreed to this again?

Oh, right. She'd seen a sixteen-year-old boy shooting lasers from his hands and wanted to see if she could learn to do so as well.

"Damn you, Qrow." She muttered under her breath as she finished sharpening the primary blade of her sword. Funnily enough, it didn't get much use, relative to her Dust blades. Still, it was good to have a fallback blade that wasn't so fragile as the Dust blades. As she inspected the edge, she heard the tent flap shift.

"Leader, I was wondering if I could have a word with you."

Raven set the whetstone aside and sheathed the blade before turning to face her second in command.

"Regarding what, Vernal?" Raven asked, her voice indicating she was a bit irritated by the interruption. Vernal hastily bowed before continuing.

"I've been curious about all these trips you've been taking as of late and the other members of the tribe are starting to take note of your absences. If I may ask, where have you been going?" Vernal asked carefully, not wanting to incur the wrath of her leader. Raven eyed her for a few moments before she began to answer.

"I've been tracking someone at the behest of my brother. He brought evidence to me of someone who could prove incredibly dangerous to Remnant and I've been keeping tabs on them." Raven explained, not wanting to elaborate any more than she had to. Vernal's eyes widened. There weren't many who could give her leader pause. If Raven was doing the scouting herself, they had to be something special.

"Leader, if I may, could they be a potential recruit?" Vernal suggested. Raven immediately shook her head.

"I dismissed that idea as soon as I had it, Vernal. This person is too powerful to be considered for the tribe. Besides, we have nothing to offer him." Raven answered in a tone that stated that this conversation was over. Vernal bowed to Raven and exited the tent. Raven took a deep breath and resumed plotting out how best to confront Gula. As she continued the plan, she started thinking about his routine. Most of his day was spent using that strange gravity machine for training. It was apparently operated pretty simply, given Gula seemed to only turn a disk every time he adjusted the gravity level. Raven felt a smirk start creeping across her face. She'd just had an idea of how to gain a bit more control over the situation.

* * *

 _Three days later…_

Gula grunted as he performed consecutive back springs before performing a backflip and launching two Ki blasts from his palms, which shot out of the gravity field and into a pair of trees not too far away, reducing them to ash. As soon as he landed on his feet, he sprang into a series of kicks that transitioned into a Leonid Burst, followed immediately by a Comet Shot. He grunted as he concluded the set and wiped some sweat from his brow. After a few moments, he settled into his ready position to begin another set, but suddenly realized that the gravity was starting to increase dramatically.

"What's…?!" Gula exclaimed before the gravity suddenly became to much and he collapsed to his knees! He could feel his limbs creaking under the strain. Gula looked up to the gravity controls and his face contorted into one of anger when he saw someone standing at the controls.

"I don't know where this machine came from, but they sure made it user-friendly, didn't they?" The figure drawled loudly. It was a woman, and Gula could swear that he'd seen her somewhere before. She was wearing red and black primarily, as well as a mask reminiscent of Grimm masks. Strapped to her side was a sword of some kind. Then it clicked. It was the same woman he'd seen investigating the crater his battle pod had made six years ago!

"Now then, I'm looking for some information. Provide me with it and I'll drop the gravity field." The woman stated. Gula just snarled at her. The woman ignored him and pressed onward.

"To start with, where does your power come from?" the woman asked. Gula grit his teeth. As much as he wanted to, he didn't have the energy to escape. He needed time to gather his strength, but that all assumed that the woman wouldn't simply increase the gravity even more to make it even more difficult. If he was going to do this, he'd have to play along. At least to begin with.

"Why do you want to know?" He ground out.

"Well, I'd think the answer is obvious. Success breeds imitators, you know." She shot back, obvious smugness in her voice that she had him trapped.

"If you want to know because you want my power, I can tell you this; It's no different from any other skill. You just need knowledge, training and dedication." He replied. The woman seemed at least moderately satisfied with the answer.

"And where exactly would I find said knowledge?" She pressed. Gula mentally groaned. He needed more time. He'd gathered quite a bit of energy, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Not in any of your libraries, I can tell you that." He shot back. The woman didn't give any indication of dissatisfaction, instead moving on to the next question.

"We'll come back to this topic later. In the meantime, it's fairly obvious you're using this machine for training purposes. I must say I'm impressed that you thought of using increased gravity for said purposes. I've never heard of anyone using such methods, though they seem obvious in retrospect. I have to ask though; why would you need greater strength than you already have? You're already much stronger than some of, probably all of Remnant's best Hunters." The woman asked. Gula silently thanked whatever gods were out there that he had a question he could answer without risking another increase in gravity.

"Well, reason number one is that it's not in my blood to stop getting stronger. Reason number two is that if I don't get stronger, you can kiss every living thing on this planet goodbye. Hell, it may even go so far as kissing the very dirt under your boots gone." Gula answered. That got a pause out of the woman.

"Would you be so kind as to elaborate on the latter part of that statement?" She requested. Gula resisted the urge to smirk. She'd taken the bait.

"I'm guessing you know about the battle in Vale, right? I fought two scouts that were both stronger than me, though not by much. Well, here's a little revelation for you; Those two were actually pretty weak relative to what's out there. There's a whole army out there, who's members average about three times stronger than those two that I killed and make no mistake, they'll be coming here as soon as they get wind of soldiers being killed." Gula stated. The woman seemed to still be in the midst of processing this, so he took the opportunity to keep talking, hoping to keep her mentally off-balance long enough to break free of the gravity field.

"Near as I can tell, I'm the only person on this planet strong enough to win again them, so I'd suggest letting me out, so I can keep getting stronger for when they come knocking again. Also, I'm incredibly pissed off that you tried to trap me with the gravity machine, to the point where I will kill you unless you drop the gravity field. Do you understand?" He asked. The woman seemed to latch onto the last part of that statement and chuckled a bit.

"Really? You don't even have the power to stand, much less break out of the field. No, I think I'll keep the field up until I get all of my questions ans…" She started before Gula suddenly let out a bellowing roar! His body was engulfed in a crimson aura as he surged to his feet. He reared back his right arm and threw a punch at the woman, the force of which travelled through the air and struck her right in the head, knocking her back ten feet! Gula charged forward, each footstep making a resounding _clang_ against the metal floor of the gravity machine before he leapt to freedom. He floated into the air as raised his right arm above his head and began charging up a sphere of energy in it.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" He shouted before throwing the sphere at the woman. However, it seemed that the woman was faster than he anticipated, and she managed to escape the blast radius of the sphere. Gula growled in frustration before he shot towards her, charging up another sphere in his left hand. The woman suddenly whirled around drew her sword, revealing a yellow blade. She swiped it as quickly as she drew it, causing a blast of lightning to rocket towards him.

Gula stopped and immediately used the Corona Shield, causing the lightning to break upon his body. The woman tensed in surprise when she saw the attack had done nothing to harm Gula.

"Why the hell did I take this job from Qrow and Ozpin?" the woman muttered a little too loudly. This caused Gula to pause for a crucial moment before he launched a blast at her, only for her to swipe her sword through the air and cause a red and black rift to appear. Moments before the blast connected, the woman had dove through and the rift closed. Gula's eyes widened as he processed what had just happened.

"Wait, she can… Did she just… Did she just run away?! GET THE F*CK BACK HERE!"

* * *

Raven gasped for breath as the portal closed behind her. She'd managed to escape back to her tribe mere moments before getting obliterated. She was also feeling incredibly foolish. After all she had witnessed, it was stupid of her to not assume he could break free of the gravity field.

Vernal had spun around, drawing her weapons instinctively, but she immediately stowed them when she saw it was Raven. However, she immediately became much more concerned when she saw that Raven was gasping for breath and clearly shaken up. All evidence pointed to Raven having fled from a fight, which also put Vernal on edge. She immediately helped Raven to her feet, who shakily sheathed her sword.

Raven was glad that she'd told Vernal to mind her tent while she was interrogating Gula. The tribe would question her strength if they saw her like this. After she managed to calm down, she dusted herself off and ordered Vernal to leave. She needed time to think of what to do next.

Well, the first thing she needed to do was report to Qrow or Ozpin. As loathe as she was to do so, Ozpin was the one who needed the information and Qrow had already admitted to being busy with another mission from the old man, meaning it could be a while before her brother got the information back to him. Gods above, she knew she was going to regret what she was about to do.

After changing to clean clothes, Raven drew her sword again and opened a portal to Vale, praying that Yang wouldn't notice it. After transforming into her namesake, Raven flew through the portal to find herself in Vale. It seemed that Yang was on an outing in Vale.

Immediately, she closed the portal and flew off towards Beacon, ascending up to Ozpin's office. After making sure he was in his office, she transformed back into a human and landed on his balcony before striding into his office. Ozpin spun his chair ninety degrees and rose to his feet, looking at the former Huntress.

"Raven." He greeted amicably.

"Ozpin." She replied curtly.

"I don't believe this is a social call. I will be honest, I thought Qrow's idea wouldn't work. I'm delighted to have been proven wrong." Ozpin stated. Raven found his easy-going tone to be infuriating.

"I'm here to give you the only report you'll get from me about the boy." She informed him bluntly. Ozpin nodded and gestured for her to continue with his ever-present coffee mug.

"I'm unaware of the route he took to get there, but he's currently back in Mistral. He's using a machine that can create a gravity field to train. He's already grown much stronger than he was when he had that battle in Vale's mountains. I don't believe he constructed the machine himself, given it's located within an area that was until very recently, occupied with an extremely dense population of Grimm that he obviously wiped out. How the machine got there in the first place is beyond me, but it was probably there for a long time." Raven started, taking a moment to allow Ozpin to ask any questions. When he remained silent, she took that as an invitation to continue.

"He claims that there is an entire army composed of soldiers that more or less average around his current level of power, and that he killed two of those soldiers in the mountain battle, though he did say they were much weaker than the norm. He also says that more will come, eventually." She concluded. Ozpin nodded.

"Well, that is certainly quite a bit to take in. Now, I can see you are incredibly eager to leave, so I won't keep you." Ozpin replied. Raven almost wanted to thank him, but instead just turned and strode back out onto the balcony and opened a portal back to her tribe. One thing was certain, she wouldn't be getting anywhere near Gula again if she could help it.

* * *

The immediate area and Gula had undergone a drastic change in the last twenty minutes as he worked through the rage and frustration of his opponent opening a portal and running away with their tail between their legs. However, after he'd created a suitably sized crater (One approximately twenty meters deep), he'd calmed down and started sifting through the information he'd gotten from her before she ran off.

She'd mentioned someone named Qrow, who Gula didn't recognize at all. However, she had mentioned Ozpin, and that had Gula getting frustrated for an entirely different reason. He should have suspected that Ozpin was onto something the moment he approached him again for that training camp. Him taking hospitalizing two punks wasn't enough to make him stand out amongst the students that Ozpin's academy accepted. He probably initially just thought it was better to get a potentially violent minor off the streets and doing something 'constructive' with his strength. Now Gula just felt stupid.

All that aside, Ozpin had sent someone to spy on him, likely after his battle in Vale's mountains. And that spy had just escaped him and was likely reporting to Ozpin as he sat here piecing it all together.

Gula groaned as he pulled his hands down his face before frustratedly blowing up another tree.

"Okay then, my secret is mostly out now, I have no idea when the PTO is going to show up again and I don't have a plan for either of those… I take back what I said earlier. If there is a god out there, they aren't looking out for me at all." Gula muttered before he started pacing around, trying to figure out what his next move should be.

"Well, I don't know where the PTO is, but I do know where Ozpin is. Or at least, I know where he usually is. That makes the 'secret' problem a lot easier to solve." Gula thought aloud before he winced and collapsed to one knee. The effect of the woman's trap had caught up with him.

"Okay then. Rest, food, then sleep. I'll deal with this tomorrow." He groaned before making his way back to his bedroll and laying down. Hopefully his body would recover enough to gather food later. For now, he just needed to rest.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in the PTO spacecraft…_

The Bas captain frowned as he kept re-examining the long-range scouter that the ship sported. Normally, they used it to scan the average power level of a planet, but it could also be used to pick out anomalistic power levels. They hadn't bothered with using the scouter when they arrived, since the world was so far out of the way and those who discovered it said that both its people and its technology were subpar, so why even bother?

Unfortunately, the scouter seemed to be on the fritz. When it scanned the world, the image was fuzzy and distorted. In other words, useless. The Bas growled to himself as he leapt out of his chair and began pacing around. His subordinates insisted that the scouter was in full repair and that the systems had gone through three separate recalibrations. They'd also claimed that the problem was likely something to do with the planet itself, though the Bas didn't buy it. He didn't know what he'd done to be given such a worthless, lazy crew, but until he could wrench success from their incompetent hands, he wouldn't be getting a better one.

"It's at times like this when I wonder if travelling to the South Galaxy to join Lord Cooler would have been a smarter idea." The Bas muttered before coming to the conclusion that if the scouter wasn't going to help him, he'd just have to put more boots on the ground.

He marched down to the crew quarters and threw open the door, frustrated to find half the crew just lazing about in their cots. Lazy bastards, the whole lot of them!

"Raws! Panille! You two are going planet side to track down that rogue Saiyan! You are not to engage, only find him so a strike team can be deployed and deal with the problem. Then, it's back to a routine extermination." The Bas captain ordered. The two Appule race lethargically slipped out of their cots and started making their way to the exit hatch, only for the Bas captain to shoot a small blast past them, causing them to pause and their muscles to stiffen.

"Just so I'm sure we're clear, you are NOT to engage the Saiyan. You are only to find him and signal us when you have done so. Do I make myself clear?" The Bas growled at them. The two of them turned and nodded quickly. The Bas eyed them carefully before turning around and walking back down the hallway.

"I'm glad we understand one another." He concluded as he stepped out of sight. Raws and Panille both let out a breath they didn't realize they'd been holding and turned around, continuing towards the exit hatch.

"The captain sure is wound up about this Saiyan, isn't he?" Raws muttered in an undertone. He had a red complexion with black patterning and wore black standard PTO armor.

"Definitely. When's the last time you remember the captain actually firing a blast?" Panille asked. He had a primarily dark yellow complexion with forest-green patterning. He was wearing blue standard PTO armor.

"I don't think I've _ever_ seen him use his power before. He's always just yelled at us to do stuff." Raws responded before they reached the hatch. The pair stepped out of the hatch and began descending to the planet below, the pair couldn't help but grin a bit at the prospect of getting the opportunity to hunt down a Saiyan monkey. Dangerous game was always more thrilling.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for today! I had a few thoughts on how I wanted to do Raven confronting Gula, and I think I did pretty well on that front.**

 **Creativity: And he had a Vegeta moment as well.**

 **Author: Oh yeah! Felt like throwing that in there for funsies.**

 **Creativity: TFS Vegeta is a treasure**

 **Author: Indeed. Now then, I don't think there's much left to talk about. Discord server above, hope to get more of you joining… yeah, I think that's it!**

 **Have a good weekend, I'll see ya next time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright! Welcome everyone! Welcome to chapter fifteen of Limit Breaker! Huh. This feels like more of a milestone than chapter 10 did.**

 **Creativity: I know, right? I even brought donuts for the whole studio.**

 **Author: And soda… Weird…**

 **Anyway, let's jump into answering reviews!**

 **Eugene DC Flores: Definitely did draw a bit on TFS Vegeta there, but it was more in line with him yelling at Gero and the Androids (Cyborgs, whatever). As for the Ki Weapons, there's a muddling of terminology there. Do you mean things like Sauzer's lightsaber thing, or a sword that Gula can channel Ki through? No to both of those by the way, but I do have plans for them. As for the exploration thing, Yeah, I would like to do more exploring, but I also don't just want to leave the ship floating in orbit until I decide to use it. That being said, I already have a solution so worry not.**

 **Guest: That's been something I've been trying to figure out and has proven frustrating. The problem is that Cinder and co don't really leave Vale to much and I'm not trying to disturb the initial story too much, hence why most of the character interactions haven't drastically changed original plotlines too much or they occur in gaps between volumes. That's not to say I'll be sticking to the script all the way through, just that I don't want to make too much of a mess early on. That will come later… Once again though, I think I've figured that out.**

 **Alright, Reviews answered! Note, I only publicly answer reviews from the previous chapter.**

 **Now, with that out of the way, Let us proudly pre…**

 **Creativity: Wait! You forgot the Discord Password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: Good catch! Now then, let us proudly present chapter 15 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula grumbled as he once again packed up his camp. He'd intended to keep training, but now that he knew that Ozpin had at least one person watching him (Who had escaped when Gula tried to blow them into tiny bits, a fact that continued to irk Gula to this very minute) meant he should probably have a talk with the man, try to find out how much he knew. And if he knew too much, well… well he'd blow up that bridge when he came to it. He'd prefer to not kill him, but he wasn't feeling particularly fussy at the moment.

With everything packed, Gula slung his pack over his shoulder and floated straight up before rocketing off eastward. As frustrating as it was that he had to ditch training to go deal with this mess, there was a small part of Gula that was excited to be travelling again. After he'd dealt with the whole Ozpin situation, maybe he could start expanding his search to other regions of Remnant. He had no idea where the PTO ship was, though it was likely hanging in orbit over Remnant. Of course, that only narrowed its potential area to literally anywhere within Remnant's atmosphere, an area Gula had nowhere near enough patience to search. He'd have to wait for one of the PTO scouts to find him again, then try to get the information out of him somehow, one way or another.

However, there was one thing he was NOT looking forward to: The possibility that he'd run into any of his former trainees. That was one headache he wanted to avoid as much as possible. The questions would be endless and setting the headache it was cause him aside, the less they knew the better. That would just lead to more questions and he had a feeling that either they'd find the answers, or the answers would find them. Neither option would end happy for them.

Hopefully he'd be able to find him without getting spotted by any of the students who he'd trained, or at least manage to stave off any questions from them long enough to find Ozpin. Hopefully the staff and students would be accommodating in that regard, should it come to that.

Gula's mind drifted away from the minefield of frustration he was about to waltz through as he ascended to a greater altitude. Looking down, he could see the landscape transitioning away from dense forests, thinning out as it slowly gave way to the ocean. He could see occasional aquatic wildlife breach the surface, as well as the occasional oceanic Grimm. A few times he went out of his way to fly down there and test out just how strong he was now be blasting the Grimm to high hell. It was always cathartic, even nostalgic to erase Grimm from the face of the planet. Plus, it was a good measure for how far he'd come since he found and started using the gravity machine. Even his basic blasts were enough to take care of exceptionally large and durable Grimm. He'd gone out of his way to try a max power Comet Shot on one of the Grimm he'd come across, one resembling a very large and toothy predatory fish, and the resultant blast hadn't just killed the Grimm, it blasted a hole through the ocean straight down to rock bottom. The sheer force alone was enough to create a gap that persisted for ten seconds after the beam faded. The sound the ocean made as it recollected in that spot was indescribable.

Having had his fun, Gula resumed his flight to Beacon. However, he both felt and heard the sound of his stomach growling. He'd been in such a rush that he'd eaten a light breakfast. Too light, as it turned out.

"Well, I suppose I could take a detour to get a sandwich…" He muttered, salivating a bit at the thought of one of his favorite meals. Yes, food first, headache afterwards.

Speaking of food, he suddenly remembered he had another reason to pay a visit to Ozpin. Ozpin still owed him payment for that training camp. And he'd be getting it. Ozpin would not weasel his way out of paying what was owed.

It was an hour or so before Gula saw the city of Vale appear on the horizon. He slowed down enough to dispel the red aura around himself and started examining the city from his bird's-eye view, trying to locate his previous point of entry. As he recalled, it was on the western side of Vale. After locating the gateway, Gula slipped over to the mountains and began his descent. Once he hit the ground, Gula immediately made his way over to the gate.

Sneaking back into Vale wasn't that difficult this time, though it felt like it took a lot longer. Gula suspected that was more his stomach talking. After immediately making a beeline for the sandwich shop, the owner was a bit shocked to see him, believing he'd been killed by Grimm. Gula told him he'd just been out on a long trip. After ordering and collecting his beautiful sandwich, he found a place to sit down and devoured it with Saiyan gusto. After making sure there were no crumbs on his clothes or face, Gula turned his attention to Beacon.

Chances were that Ozpin's office was at the top. Made the most sense that a headmaster would be have an office at the peak of the academy. It would probably also be pretty secure place to wait for Ozpin, assuming he wasn't there.

Having picked out his point of entry, Gula made his way back out of Vale and climbed a short ways into the mountains before taking off and flying towards the tower. He was a bit more cautious once he didn't have the mountains to hide behind, but he eventually made his way up to a convenient balcony for him to land on. Ozpin wasn't in at the moment, so he started lounging around on the balcony while he waited for the headmaster to return.

* * *

Ozpin smiled as he watched the final preparations for the Beacon Dance undergo completion. Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee had really pulled through when team CFVY's mission had ran into complications. He and professor Goodwitch were simply making sure the final touches were going smoothly. Also to make sure that no juvenile tomfoolery took place (Goodwitch's words, not his).

Soon enough, Ozpin departed and started heading back to his office, only to be joined by Ironwood, who had a serious look on his face. Ozpin could only guess at what had the General frowning today.

"James, I trust all is going well?" Ozpin greeted. The General's face didn't change.

"It's gotten confusing. I got an update from my analysis team." James informed him. Ozpin raised his eyebrow.

"Let's continue this conversation in the elevator." Ozpin replied. The two men made their way to the aforementioned elevator and stepped inside. The General immediately produced a tablet Scroll from his jacket and opened a few files before handing it to Ozpin.

"We performed another investigation of that suspected crash site and the surrounding area. This time we were able to run a trace on some of those foreign materials I mentioned. We managed to find traces at a location that appeared to have undergone a rockslide at some point in the past. I sent another team in and they managed to move the rocks, and they found this." James began, tapping on an image to enlarge it. The image was of a large spherical pod of sorts, sporting one window on the main hatch. It was scuffed and dented, but otherwise seemed to be in good repair. There appeared to be a propulsion system attached to the back of the pod.

"We brought it to one of our labs and took the thing apart. It's completely out of fuel, with what scraps left in the fuel tank having turned to gel some time ago. Never seen anything like this stuff. Probably can't even make it on Remnant." The General continued. All the more evidence for Gula literally being not of this world.

"So it's possible that he crashed here and became stranded." Ozpin muttered. Ironwood nodded.

"Most likely." He agreed. Ozpin looked at a few of the other files and images on the screen.

"What about the armor?" He asked. Ironwood suddenly looked frustrated.

"We've run it through every stress-test we can think of and it's taken all of it and then some. How something can be that flexible and also that durable is beyond me. We've been trying to find a way to replicate it, but same deal with the fuel in the pod. Actually, not quite. Some of this stuff does show up on Remnant, but most of it has been disposed of by the SDC since it's considered a waste product in their Dust mining operations. They haven't destroyed it, but most of it is in Waste areas after processing for Dust." Ironwood explained. Ozpin frowned. Given all the technological advancements to the point of interstellar travel that Gula's possible species had, Ozpin had to wonder how much of Remnant's own advancement had been stunted by their reliance on Dust, especially since it lost its power once it reached a certain distance from the planet. The convenience and versatility of Dust had caused it to become connected to virtually every facet of human and faunus life on Remnant, but now Ozpin wondered how much that reliance was costing them in the long run.

Ozpin's thoughts were interrupted when the elevator _dinged,_ indicating that they'd reached his office. The two men stepped out of the elevator and into the office, only for both men to immediately realize that the very topic of conversation was currently laying on the ground with his legs draped over the edge of the balcony. Ironwood immediately went for his revolver, though Ozpin was quick to hold up his hand and prevent Ironwood from potentially firing his weapon at Gula. No matter the outcome, it could not end well.

Gula, noticing that someone had entered the office, quickly flipped to his feet.

"I guess I should have waited to make sure you were alone…" Gula muttered in an undertone, unconcerned about the weapon James had been in the midst of yanking from its holster. Ozpin frowned as the boy strode into his office off the balcony.

"How did you… Right, you can fly..." Ironwood muttered. Gula glanced at Ironwood, frowning.

"Great… Just great… Exactly how many people know about me?" Gula asked, sounding rather irked. Ozpin didn't want to take any chances. He had to get Gula into a better mood than he currently seemed to be in, otherwise he'd possibly be risking the safety of the whole school. The problem was how to do that. Ozpin knew that it wasn't advisable to lie to someone who already didn't trust you, and Gula randomly showing up in his office was definitely a sign of mistrust. Raven probably didn't help, either.

"Aside from myself, James and Glynda, two others." Ozpin answered. He wasn't necessarily lying. There were others who were involved with the investigation, but they only had objects and materials, such as the armor Qrow had retrieved, or the pod.

"Alright, I know about four of five. You, your friend here, Goodwitch and that woman who you had spying on me. Who's the fifth?" Gula asked.

"You can trust him to keep a secret. You've never met before." Ozpin replied calmly. Gula frowned but didn't make any attempt to press for that information. Ozpin wasn't sure what Gula's game was here, whether it was simple interrogation regarding his discovery that Ozpin had been spying on him, or if he was here for some other reason.

"Why are you here?" James demanding, making Ozpin immediately wish James wasn't present. James was a General, not a diplomat. However, Ozpin at least hoped he had enough sense to NOT go to war with 'wonder-kid' as Qrow had started referring to Gula.

Gula frowned at the General.

"I'm here because I found out Ozpin had someone watching me and I wanted to find out just what in all he knows. Apparently, you know I can fly, you probably know about my energy blasts, and I'm guessing that your spy told you about the gravity machine…" Gula started, only to be interrupted by Ironwood.

"What's this about a gravity machine?" He asked both Ozpin and Gula, the latter of which shot a glare at James before continuing on as if James hadn't spoken at all.

"And finally, I'm curious as to what you intend to do with that information. That training session you roped me into couldn't have been a coincidence. Honestly, I feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. You were hoping I'd let slip something about how I do what I do to one of your students, or that Goodwitch would be able to figure it out through them. Oh, speaking of which, I also want that payment you promised me." Gula concluded. Ozpin almost wanted to laugh at that last request. Of everything he could have brought up, he wanted to collect his fee for the training camp? James just looked confused and Ozpin didn't blame him.

"I'm sure we can work out the details on the latter soon enough, though I believe we are long overdue for a conversation." Ozpin replied. James frowned but didn't do anything in protest. Gula eyed Ozpin carefully as he crossed his arms.

"Alright then, let's talk. Why are you so interested in me? What's your stake?" Gula demanded. Ozpin weighed his options. He could stick to half-truths and keep his secrets, hoping that Gula didn't press for more details, or he could bite the bullet and reveal everything. The Grimm, Salem and the shadow war he'd been engaged in with the witch. On the one hand, he had no reason to believe Gula trustworthy with these secrets. He was all but proven to be an extra-terrestrial being, no matter how human he looked or even acted. On the other hand, Gula might take the information as a show of good faith.

Or perhaps he could take both options and meet somewhere in the middle.

"Very well then, I suppose you are due some explanation." Ozpin agreed, hoping that just enough truth would be enough. After taking a brief moment to decide on his story, he began his explanation.

"As you are no doubt aware, Remnant has many dangers for the people that inhabit it, most prominent among them being the Grimm." Ozpin began, ignoring Gula's derisive snort at the mention of the Grimm.

"However, there are many other threats to the good people of Remnant; threats that are unseen, unheard. I lead a collective of people who combat these threats in a similarly covert manner. You can imagine then, when someone like you appeared, we were… concerned, to say the least. There was the possibility you were an agent of the enemy. However, as I learned more and more, I grew evermore curious, which was why I enlisted you for that training programme. However, the way that training session ended was an eye-opener, to say the least." Ozpin continued. Gula frowned at the mention of the mountain battle. When he made no move to speak, Ozpin took that as an invitation to keep going.

"We conducted an investigation and I can only assume that you are currently embroiled in something very dangerous. Not just to you, but possibly the entirety of Remnant. If you went to such lengths as training under artificially intensified gravity, I can only wonder what you are preparing for." Ozpin continued, only for Gula to cut him off.

"Well, I can only guess, but considering the body you left behind looked nothing like any human or faunus in recorded history, the strange armor they wore, two attackers that rivaled and possibly even surpassed you in strength, and that pod we fou…"

Ozpin wasn't even allowed to finish that sentence as Gula rocketed forward, wrapped in a red aura! He shot passed Ozpin and Ironwood before whirling around and grabbing them both by the necks of their jackets. He then turned and flew out the window, dragging both men along with him as he surged through the air. They flew for a little under a minute until Gula came in close to the ground and abruptly slowed down and released them, sending them skidding and rolling across the ground until they were stopped by a moss-covered boulder. After the two men's insides caught up with their outsides and they managed to prop themselves up on the boulder. They looked up to see Gula hovering above them, clad in crimson energy. He did not look happy at all

"Alright, now lets _really_ talk." Gula growled. Ozpin kept up his poker face as best he could, but he couldn't help but grimace in pain a bit from the rough landing. James seemed to be recovering better, and he at least had the sense to not go for his revolver again. Ozpin wanted to curse himself for letting slip about the pod, but it hadn't seemed like information that would prompt this sort of reaction from Gula.

"You were saying about a pod?" Gula demanded. Ozpin held up his hand as he caught his breath.

"We uncovered a strange pod from a mountain near a crater, that coincidentally is near a town." Ozpin concluded. Gula muttered something in a language Ozpin couldn't understand, but he could tell that it likely wasn't language one would use around small children.

"Alright then, I'll ask again. What do you know, and what were you planning to do with it?" He growled. Ozpin knew it was time to stop beating around the bush and get to the point.

"We have all but confirmed that you are an extra-terrestrial organism, as were the attackers during the training programme." Ozpin replied. Gula death-glared Ozpin.

"That's half the answer." Gula snarled. Ozpin grit his teeth but knew Gula would likely kill them both if he didn't fess up.

"We are currently studying the armor and pod to see if we can replicate them. As for you, I am concerned about the threat you've brought with you, be it your attackers, or you yourself." Ozpin explained. Gula seemed much less murderous now that he had the straight answers he'd been looking for.

"Alright then, I'll give you a few answers. I crashed here by accident, the guys I fought work for a real nasty piece of work. There's more of them hanging around somewhere in Remnant's atmosphere and they have devices that can track and numerically calculate how strong someone is, based on their energy. Right now, on this planet, that's me. Unless Remnant's been holding out on me, that is." Gula told them. He'd stopped expelling that red energy so violently, though it was still there. Ozpin hoped that meant Gula had made a decision not to kill them and was only maintaining the display to intimidate them. Ozpin wouldn't lie and say it wasn't working. James had remained silent this whole time, but finally asked a question.

"How strong are they?"

Gula frowned and looked off at an angle.

"I don't know. The ones I fought were miserably subpar relative to their usual strength. I'm probably three or four times stronger now than the ones I killed, but I don't know how I stack up against the rest of the grunts in the Frieza Force. And that's not even counting the elites." Gula muttered in response before his eyes widened, realizing that he'd let something important slip. Ozpin immediately filed the name 'Frieza' away. However, Gula immediately clammed up. Both James and Ozpin knew that he wouldn't be sharing anything else. Well, at least they were alive and still in one piece. For now, anyway. Gula eyed them carefully.

"Look, for all your sakes, stay out of my business. If word somehow gets back to these guys, they'll abandon all subtlety and just come flying in at maximum and I won't stand a chance against that. Worse still, if word gets back to their higher-ups, Remnant could be looking down the barrel of a full-scale invasion." Gula warned them. Ozpin hated leaving the safety of Remnant in the hands of Gula, but perhaps he was right. Gula's world was well out of his depth. Ozpin had to have faith that Gula could stop threats coming to Remnant so that he could focus on Remnant's own problems.

"Alright, well assuming you aren't going to kill us, would you mind flying us back to my office? I believe both James and I will need a change of attire for Beacon's Dance tonight." Ozpin lightly joked. Both men's normally pristine uniforms were covered in dirt and scuff from the hard landing Gula had provided them with. Gula rolled his eyes and flew over to them, once again grabbing them by their coats and rocketing back to Beacon, landing much more gently on the balcony. It still took a toll on their innards though. After depositing them on the balcony, Gula turned to look at Ozpin.

"Oh, and one more thing." He added, a hint of an ominous tone in his voice.

"Yes?" Ozpin asked amicably.

"I want my fee." Gula replied. Once again, Ozpin almost broke out laughing.

"I'm afraid I can't have it here for you right away. I assure you, I will pay you. I'll send someone to deliver your payment." Ozpin answered. Poor James just looked even more confused, now that he didn't look green.

"I'll hold you to that!" Gula called over his shoulder as he grabbed a bag he'd deposited inside the office and rocketed off into the distance. James looked at Ozpin and frowned.

"Oz, I think you and I are overdue for a long discussion." James groaned as he and Ozpin both made their way to the elevator to head to their respective private quarters to get fresh clothes.

"Let's table it for now, James. The last one was a bit nerve-wracking" Ozpin replied.

* * *

Gula frowned as he flew westwards. He'd decided to begin searching for the PTO in Vacuo, since it was one of the territories he hadn't explored yet. Plus, the vast expanse of desert would make a better battleground than the mountains. No one was going to complain about a destroyed desert.

Still, that failed to distract him from the fact that his secret was more out than he'd originally anticipated. Though from the sound of things, it was literally Ozpin's job to know this sort of stuff, so things probably could have gone a lot worse. At least he didn't have to vaporise anyone, though he was almost a little disappointed that he didn't get to vaporize something.

As he ascended up to just below the cloud layer, he scanned the landscape below. It was slowly turning to sandy desert beneath him. He hadn't paid it much mind before, but his flight speed had increased significantly. He'd probably be able to fly a lap around Remnant's equator in about three quarters of a day at this point, not counting breaks.

Adjusting his course, Gula flew down to the coast and landed by the sea before opening his pack and retrieving his map. After finding his approximate location, he was able to come up with a route to Vacuo's capital. The flight there took all of ten minutes, though he suspected it would be much more difficult to sneak in than it had been in Vale. There were no mountains to hide in, after all.

Dropping down about a mile out of the city, Gula walked the rest of the way there. The area city was built in wasn't like the other sandy areas Gula had seen. The sand gave way to a rocky surface, which was definitely much better for building foundations on than loose, shifting sand. Gula strode through the front gates, the guards not even bothering to stop him.

The city was certainly a departure from Vale. There was almost no building exceeding three levels, except for one massive structure at the center of the city that was constructed like a pyramid. Aside from that, the whole place had a completely different 'air' to it. It was hard to describe.

As he wandered the streets, he eventually came to what he guessed was the commercial district, given the increasing number of shops. He immediately gravitated to the ones with food, using some of his dwindling lien supply to sample some of the local cuisine. It was certainly different from Vales, with a few highs and a few lows. He didn't really care for the fruit they were selling, either cooked in some way or raw. Funnily enough, he rather enjoyed some friend insects from one vendor.

After exploring for a little while longer, he managed to get directions to a nearby inn and rented a room for the night. He would have gone downstairs for food, but he had the distinct feeling that if he left the room, he'd return to find a bunch of his stuff missing. Or all of it. Besides, he'd done enough snacking on the way to the hotel that he wasn't that hungry.

"I really hope Ozpin's snappy with that payment." Gula muttered as he lay back on his bed after stashing his bag under the bed. As he waited to drift off, he considered his visit to Vacuo. While he'd enjoyed his first day in Vacuo a lot more than his first day in Vale, he had a feeling he'd prefer Vale over Vacuo in the long term, more so for location, though his mountain home still held more preference than either. He had yet to visit Mistral's capital, but he figured he'd save that for last. He didn't feel like backtracking or flying over the ocean, even if he could. Endless blue, only broken up by the occasional island or sea stack would just be boring. That left a trip to Mantle/Atlas. That region was renowned for being locked in perpetual winter, and while that wouldn't be a problem for him with his Ki manipulation, he had a feeling that walking around wearing his usual getup would lead to strange stares, to say the least. He'd had to find some way to fake it until he could find some clothes that would better look the part out there. Oh, and considering one of the things he'd heard about Atlas and Mantle was that faunus discrimination was at its worst out there, he'd probably need to hide his tail.

"Maybe I should skip over Atlas and Mantle, go back to the village and get a few of the pelts he had stored up turned into winter clothing, even if he didn't need it. He'd already outgrown his previous winter clothing that Verde insisted on making him every year for free.

"Wait a minute…" Gula muttered as he rolled over and pulled open his bag and started fishing through it before he found a set of clothes that he thought could pass as warm enough, at least as someone just entering the city.

"Well, at least I got that sorted out." Gula muttered as he put his things back under the bed. Using a search for the PTO as an excuse for doing more world travelling felt like a pretty good idea. Besides, it'd be better for picking a battleground. He'd half-hoped he'd be lucky enough to encounter the PTO already, but he knew they'd find him one way or another. Still he felt ready this time. He'd decided against going back to the gravity machine, especially since his little encounter with Ozpin's rogue spy had shown him just how easy it was to trap him there. He'd been vulnerable until he'd gathered enough energy to break free, and the PTO wouldn't give him that time. No, that was the last place he wanted to fight them.

Vacuo would probably be best. It would probably be a good idea for him to wait for them in the desert. Then he'd have plenty of space to cut loose.

Gula grinned. Now he had the makings of a real plan.

* * *

Raws and Panille had been dragging their feet with their tracking efforts. They'd landed on a small island that was mostly desert and booted up their scouters to find the Saiyan. Whatever was causing problems with the long-range scouter appeared to have died down a fair bit once they got closer to the planet, though it appeared there was possibly still problems. Or all of their scouters were experiencing problems. That wasn't unlikely, considering their squad was so low on the totem pole. Their equipment was usually in some level of disrepair. Still, they did have an idea of which direction to search in. At the moment, they were currently resting at a nearby lake before they'd keep going.

"Still don't get why they didn't send those three Brench. They're the ones with enthusiasm." Raws complained as he plucked blades of grass and incinerated them.

"Probably because they're the only ones with anything resembling competency among us and the captain wants them to deploy them only once we have a fix on the Saiyan." Panille replied. He was simply glowering into space.

"So, what do you think is gonna happen if we do find the Saiyan? Should we just try and take him out?" Panille wondered. Raws shrugged.

"Well, the captain did order us to only find him and not engage. He threatened our lives to make sure we understood him." Raws replied. Panille rolled his eyes.

"True, but I still don't like him." Panille shot back.

The two aliens continued to chat and complain as the sun dipped lower. All they knew was that regardless of orders, they needed to track that monkey down. And they'd do just that. The glory of the kill could be hashed out at a later date.

Regardless, both wanted it. And they intended to get it.

* * *

 **Well, that's about it! This chapter felt a little bit more tedious to write, but I feel it turned out pretty well. Probably just me eager and impatient to get to the fun stuff.**

 **Creativity: Oh, the murder that shall be had~**

 **Author: Yeah, that is gonna be fun.**

 **I really enjoyed writing the part where Gula takes both Ozpin and Ironwood for a ride. Probably gonna come back to that later.**

 **Alright, I'm pretty tired, both because it's late and I just want this chapter to be over. So, Ima sign off for now.**

 **See ya next time!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Good day to you all! Wow it's been a while since I last checked in, and we've gotten quite a bit done since the last time we sat down to write for this story.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, definitely got shit done.**

 **Author: For those of you interested, we completed two chapters of a new project I started for funsies, wrote one, possibly two chapters of Venom: Resurgence, and completed the first eight chapters of, and launched Before: Kingdom Hearts.**

 **Creativity: That one was actually launched before chapter 15 (not completed at the time, but it is now). We just forgot to mention it in the opening bit.**

 **Author: Yeah, I kinda felt stupid two days later when I remembered that.**

 **As for that unnamed project, it's going to remain that way for a while. I want a few more chapters done on it before I put the name out there.**

 **Creativity: It's been a fun write so far. We've been doing more comedy stuff in it.**

 **Author: If it ever gets to the point of publication, it'll probably mimic Resurgence's release schedule. That means that for those who follow all my work, you could potentially see double releases every now and again!**

 **Creativity: Woah, let's not go crazy. We've already got three projects as it is, we don't wanna tack on a fourth.**

 **Author: We'll see.**

 **Now then, let's answer the reviews:**

 **Loki's Tongue: Woah, maybe tone it down a bit. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I don't do requests (HA HA, FRIEZA!). However, since you already have everything essentially mapped out, why do you want me to write it? Especially since YOU can write it. Look, even if I did do requests, I don't think I could do this story the justice you'd want or expect, since it's not my passion and enthusiasm going into it. I am not condemning people who do requests, just explaining why** _ **I**_ **don't do them.**

 **So go forth now and pour your heart and soul into the story you dream of. And if/when it gets published, let me know so I can give it a read.**

 **SSJ: No discussion on transformations quite yet, though False Super Saiyan has come up a fair bit. I'll think on ot.**

 **Sin: I already have plans for the DBZ/DBS cast later and it won't be for a while. Don't worry, I think you'll enjoy what I'm planning for them.**

 **SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Eh, I disagree a little bit. Gula isn't even past the 4K threshold yet. Besides, too much Dragon Ball-ness will break the story prematurely. Make no mistake, breaking will happen and it will be glorious, but just not yet.**

 **Well, I think we've talked long enough for now! First, here's the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **And with that done, I now proudly present chapter 16 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

The flight to Atlas was supposed to have been simple. Just a relative straight line from Vacuo to Atlas, with a potential stop to see if there was a store that sold cold-weather clothes. Nice and simple.

But it couldn't have been that simple, could it. No, there had to be an interruption along the way.

Gula had been approaching the border between Atlas and Vacuo when he noticed a group of people near the base of a mountain. As he peered closer, he could see that they were dressed in pretty scuffed and beaten up clothes, though their weapons were much more up to date, if a bit dirty. As he drifted closer, he noticed a group of them head into a nearby cave. There were several gunshots and people started running out of the cave, only to be shot with some sort of stun guns. From there, they were collected and tossed into the backs of several large transports. Gula could see that all of the people being dragged out were faunus of one stripe or another.

"Oh, so it's this song and dance again." Gula groaned as he cracked his neck.

"Well, even if it's been a few years, I don't think I've cleansed all of that bile from the last trafficking incident out of my system. Oh, this is going to be so cathartic." Gula said with a grin as he cracked his knuckles and rocketed down to the traffickers, launching two blasts ahead of him. The blasts struck the ground and created a massive dust cloud that obscured his approach. He wasn't worried about being blind himself. His Saiyan senses would ensure he wasn't caught off guard. He landed next to one of the traffickers and elbowed him, sending him hurtling into the mountainside and crumpling into a broken heap. Gula then spun and launched a blast straight into the gut of a trafficker to his right, who was sent hurtling for half a kilometer, though he didn't gain more than a few feet of altitude.

Gula then dropped to one hand and spun around, kicking the legs out from under a pair of traffickers who had strayed too close, knocking their kneecaps straight out of their legs in the process! He knew there were more traffickers around, but Gula could also still hear gunshots coming from inside the cave and decided that dismantling them would be more fun than the idiots in the dust cloud. He swiftly entered the cave, pleased that he could start using his eyes again. He could function without them fine, but he still liked being able to see his surroundings.

The first trafficker to spot him actually managed to get a shot off, which Gula caught between his middle finger and thumb.

"Cute." Gula quipped before kicking him into the wall, creating a human-shaped dent in the stone. He looked further into the cave to see two traffickers had taken hostages the moment they'd noticed Gula and seen their friend's innards get turned to paste and had guns to their hostages heads. Gula glared at them exasperatedly.

"Seriously?" He asked before rocketing forward at speeds the men couldn't track, knocking their guns into the air, breaking the arms that were holding the hostages and seizing both men by their faces and throwing them into the back of the cave. He let out a sigh of enjoyment as he turned around to look at the remaining traffickers.

"I've heard people say catharsis is poor for your health, but damn does this feel amazing." Gula stated jovially at them, causing them to balk in terror. Immediately, guns were raised, and they opened fire.

Outside the cave, the leader of the traffickers was getting radio messages of half his men down or crippled as well as shouts of terror coming from inside the cave.

" _It's taking us apart! Help us! OH OUM…!"_

The lead trafficker grit his teeth in rage. This was supposed to be a routine capture! A group of faunus fleeing from Atlas and Mantle to Vacuo were usually easy pickings! But then something had attacked them. The leader hadn't seen it yet, but whatever it was it had a particularly brutal fighting style and staggering strength. Case and point, two of his men were missing both of their kneecaps, which looked as if they've been shot out from the back of their knees.

Whatever was in there, it wasn't worth trying to fight it to salvage the remaining stock. Better to bury it.

"Bring down the mouth of the cave." The leader ordered through radio. What remainder of his men that were capable of movement immediately complied, tossing grenades and pouring bullets on the cave entrance until it collapsed. From there, all of his remaining men piled into the transports and moved out, making their way back to their base of operations. They'd have to plan another capture run to make up for the lost stock, and he'd need to find new men to replace the ones who were now dead or crippled. All in all, today had been a total bust.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling _KABOOM_ and a lingering flash of red rushed past the vehicles, causing them to be jostled by rushing wind! The leader looked in the side mirror of his transport and saw what looked like a glowing red comet heading straight towards them. Suddenly, there was a terrific _CRACK_ and the next thing the leader knew, the whole hood area of the transport had vanished, and the rest of the vehicle was tumbling end over remaining end through the air! Through all of the crazy gymnastics the broken vehicle was performing, the leader could make out a bright red glow that was approaching them before his vision was filled with light and a sound like a thunderclap went off in his ears! Then there was nothing.

Gula watched as the remains of the vehicle were turned into a burning, molten wreck by the Comet Shot he'd launched once they'd gone flipping overhead, which they'd done because he'd dropped from the sky and put his whole body straight through the engine block of the vehicle. The other vehicles had screeched to a halt as best they could, and Gula was quick to capitalize on that, launching two smaller energy waves from his palms that blasted the driver and navigator straight out of their seats (and out the doors).

After disposing of the remaining traffickers by flying up and launching a Leonid Burst straight down, he swooped down and tore the back doors off of the transports, allowing the faunus to stumble out. They hadn't made it too far from the cave, where the faunus who had been trapped in the cave-in with him were also streaming out. He'd been rather ticked off when they'd attempted to trap him in the cave, hence why he finally stopped playing around and blasted his way out of the cave and proceeded to decimate the remaining traffickers.

The diversion had been immensely satisfying, and he was gone as quickly as he'd arrived. The only ones who'd have seen him were the faunus in the cave and even then, they'd been scared out of their minds, some of them hiding their eyes and the rest would have been distracted by the red energy that wreathed his body.

"Well, diversion over. Time to get back on track." Gula muttered to himself as he rocketed off towards Atlas.

Unbeknownst to him however, he was being observed. Two pairs of eyes followed him as he disappeared into the distance, scouters beeping.

Raws and Pannile looked concerned as they watched the Saiyan disappear into the distance, their scouters having logged his power level. It currently sat at around 2400, which was above their 1500s respectively. Thankfully they still had the numbers advantage, which they'd have to use to the fullest if they were going to bag that monkey.

"Captain, this is Raws. Me and Panille have located the Saiyan. He's heading to the northernmost continent of the planet." Raws reported back to the ship.

" _Finally, some actual results! Keep tailing him while I get the rest of the crew ready to engage."_ The bas captain replied. The two Appule race sent acknowledgements and flew off in the direction that Gula had been flying in. They'd keep on that monkey's literal and metaphorical tail until the rest of the crew arrived to turn it into a bloody smear on the ground. And oh, how satisfying that would be.

* * *

Gula had definitely noticed the dramatic temperature change as he transitioned from desert to ice-capped mountains, even if his Ki made sure that he'd not be bothered by the cold, let alone suffer any weather-associated problems, such as hypothermia or frostbite. Of course, that would garner strange looks, so he needed to pick up something that could pass as warm enough in the perpetually ice-locked region.

By now, Gula's trajectory had stopped being horizontal and had transitioned to vertical. He shot up the cliffs at breakneck speed, occasionally spotting Grimm that had frozen in place while climbing up the frigid slopes. Eventually, Gula reached the top of the cliff, thankful that there was a blizzard in progress. It would be unlikely for anyone to see him in the storm. Unbothered by the cold, he began searching around for somewhere he could procure some more region-appropriate attire.

It didn't take too long for his search to get interrupted when he realized that he'd happened on a mining colony that was currently in full operation, despite the blizzard. Gula thought that was a poor choice since the blizzard was rather harsh, despite his inhuman resistance to it.

Workers were milling about, carrying crates of what looked like Dust, operating mining equipment and coming in and out of manual tools for extracting Dust from the rock. Everywhere Gula looked he could see the same snowflake logo; the Schnee sigil.

Peering closer, Gula could see that the workers' cold-weather gear looked pretty… well, cheap was probably a good way to say it, if a bit diplomatic. All except for two individuals who were wearing rather expensive looking cold-weather gear; long white and grey coats that reached down to their knees and fur hats, both having the Schnee sigil knitted into them.

"Can't say I'm surprised." Gula muttered as he started looking for some gear he could swipe. As he slipped through the camp, using his superior senses and the obscuring snow to avoid being seen. Eventually, he found what appeared to be a locker area. After taking a peak inside, he was disappointed to find no cold-weather gear inside. He did however notice security cameras, which was a bit strange to Gula, considering that last he checked, it was pretty weird to watch people changing their clothes on Remnant.

Still, now he knew that there were probably more cameras around. Gula figured he should have anticipated that.

"Alright, where do they keep the damn weather gear?" Gula muttered as he kept sneaking around the mine.

"Probably should have just passed this by and tried to find a shop. Less chance of problems." Gula muttered as he kept looking around. Finally, he found something that looked to be what he was looking for, based on the shirt sign embossed near the door. Gula snuck inside and was delighted to find not just a storage area for cold-weather gear, but also repairs and manufacturing. After searching around, Gula eventually found one of the finer cold-weather jackets that was a bit incomplete. It appeared that the material was still in need of some extra bits and pieces sewn onto it, as it was currently black and gray. Apparently, the white was an aesthetic part that was sewn or dyed on after the fact. After grabbing the coat and slinging it on, he found a pair of gloves and pulled them on as well. Satisfied with his choices, he snuck back out and rocketed into the air, refraining from generating his distinctive red aura. He had a feeling he'd stick out too much in Mantle than in Atlas with this getup.

The flight to Atlas was uneventful and upon arrival, he came to the conclusion that he was not going to like it here. The whole place was dominated by gray glass skyscrapers, the streets were immaculate and almost sterile, and few people he could see in the streets (Most of them were in cars and it seemed like half of those people had people driving for them) all had an air of superiority to them. They wore clothes that seemed rather poor for practicality but were showy and gaudy, with intricate designs sewn into them. The amount of jewellery he saw on both men and women made him wonder how their bodies supported it all, considering none of them appeared to have any notable physical strength.

Ever since he snuck in, he'd been getting strange looks from everyone he passed in the streets, with their eyes usually flicking up to his unruly hair. Gula paid them no mind, instead deciding that he'd want to leave Atlas as soon as possible. He just could not bring himself to care for the place.

When he'd heard what a force of industry and military might the kingdom was, he'd been expecting maybe a bit more warrior culture here. Instead, he found a bunch of moneyed aristocrats who were sitting comfy behind the reputation that others made. Even Frieza, who did as much himself, also made it clear that he was Galactic Emperor for a reason, and that was that he could single-handedly rend that empire apart with his bare hands. These people didn't look like they'd so much as thrown a single punch in their lives!

Gula immediately began looking for an exit out of the city when he noticed something in the air. It looked like a Jetstream, with whatever was leaving it behind heading straight for Atlas… No, it was heading for him.

Suddenly, the object became many as it got closer, all fanning out. People began to take notice and gesturing to it. As they got closer, Gula realized they all looked like people… And they had energy coming from their bodies that was starting to glow brighter…

"Oh damn IT ALL!" Gula shouted as he sprang into a backflip as a torrent of energy blasts struck where he'd just been standing! He bounced off his hands and performed one more flip before tossing his bag aside and grabbing his coat and throwing it aside, pulling his gloves off and rocketing into the sky, energy gathering in his hands.

Up ahead, he could see several Brench and Appule Race, about five of each. They were all grinning with sick glee as they prepared to attack once more. Gula let out a roar as he gathered power, slamming his wrists together in front of him as energy collected in a sphere around his hands.

"Leonid Burst!"

The twelve blasts erupted from Gula's palms, homing in on group. They blocked the blasts and rocketed towards Gula, who prepared for close combat. He whirled this way and that, throwing punches and kicks as fast as he was capable, however it was clear that ten on one were odds that he couldn't keep up with. He could feel blows connecting everywhere, despite his best efforts. He needed space to maneuver if he was going to get out of this one.

"GRAHH!" Gula roared as he unleashed a pulse of energy from his body to create a bit of space before energy began to gather around his right hand.

"Cygnus crescent!" He shouted before swinging his open hand around him! Purple energy erupted from his hand, creating an energy trail about a foot away from his fist. Anyone the energy came in contact with was sent flying, as if they'd been struck by a battering ram. At the conclusion of the attack, he clenched his hand into a fist, causing the energy crescent to detonate and throw anyone who'd managed to avoid the attack back.

"I'm so glad that worked." Gula muttered as he rocketed straight up, charging up for another attack. He had something special in mind for this one.

Once he'd reached high enough, he prepared another Leonid Burst and fired it, only this time he didn't dissipate the sphere around his hands, instead firing another, slightly weaker Leonid Burst, followed immediately by yet another weaker one. The blasts surged through the air and homed in on their targets, colliding with them in a magnificent series of explosions.

As Gula took the opportunity for a quick breather, several blasts erupted from the smoke and struck him simultaneously, sending him hurtling through the air and back towards Atlas. The people in the streets were making a lot of noise, some of it was screams of terror, while others sounded like people oohing and ahhing at a show of some kind.

"Idiots." Gula muttered as he recovered and started searching for his opponents. His eyes caught movement in his peripheral vision and he turned to see two Brench rocketing towards him! He was reared back his fist as the two did the same and the three of them began to rapidly exchange blows. With the odds down to two on one, Gula was able to confirm that he did indeed outstrip the PTO soldiers in strength now. In this case, by a wide margin. Gula quickly broke through both their guards and unleashed a hailstorm of blows before kicking them away and charging up a massive Comet Shot, unleashing the blast with a bellow of fury! The blast rushed towards the Brench and swallowed them up, rending them from existence. Gula smirked a little at his success before he was struck from behind and sent hurtling downwards to the streets of Atlas. Halfway down, someone struck him in the ribs and sent him hurtling through a building, scaring all the occupants he went flying past. After he emerged from the other side of the building, Gula managed to recover, just in time for another Ki blast to strike him and sending him spiraling out of control.

"That's it! I've had enough!" Gula shouted before letting out a Saiyan roar as he powered up to his maximum. The veins on his face and arms bulged as power surged through his body. He turned and saw three Appule Race converging on him. Gula snarled and rocketed towards them, energy gathering in his palms. As soon as they were close enough Gula lashed out with a series of kicks before going into a string of Cygnus crescents, leaving the energy lingering behind him. He then slammed his elbows into the backs of two of them, before whirling around and delivering a straight left kick to the back of the third, sending them back into the many lingering crescents of energy. Gula snapped both of his fists shut, causing them all to detonate simultaneously, killing all three of the Appule Race. The burnt-up corpses fell to the streets, much to the shrieking horror of the bystanders.

"Five down, five to go." Gula muttered before he turned to the remaining five, who looked concerned that half of their number were now dead. Gula bellowed as he charged them, twin energy spheres forming in his palms. The remaining PTO scouts all gathered their energy and dodged around the spheres as Gula threw them before they hit him with a combined blast that sent him hurtling out of the city! They followed along, strike him continuously until they reached a nearby rock face and flattened him against it. From there, they all flew to a relatively safe distance and began to bombard him with all of the blasts they could muster! Gula shouted angrily as he tried to escape the onslaught, but he was pinned to the spot by the force and quantity of the blasts. He could feel his strength failing him.

No matter how hard he raged against the assault, he couldn't escape. Even as his consciousness began to slip, his rage continued to build. This couldn't be the end. This would not be it. He was not going to die like this; pinned to a rock and trapped by five PTO scouts!

Gula let out a roar as his energy began to surge. It began to pulse and flash, acting almost like fire as it lashed about around his body. His eyes widened, and his irises began to change color, becoming an icy blue. His hair began to lift up and spike even more as his body was framed in red light Gula let out one last roar as he suddenly rocketed forward, charging straight through the blasts as he threw a mighty punch that struck one of the Brench in the gut that sent him hurtling back over Atlas and straight toward the ocean!

One of the remaining Appule Race activated their scouter and their blood froze.

"P…p p… power… power level… twelve thousand!" He squeaked. The other PTO scouts suddenly looked terrified. Gula's wrathful glare passed over all of them and he suddenly shot forward, throwing punches faster than they could even see before sending each one flying into the distance. He rocketed after them, roaring in fury! They all immediately began charging up their strongest attacks and launched them at him! Gula merely snarled and swung his arms out to either side of his body, energy erupting in a sphere around him that pulsed as he let out another roar. More and more energy poured from his body as the sphere began to become denser and denser. One of the Brench's eyes widened.

"Wait… I've seen this technique! It's…!" He shouted before Gula answered for him. He pulled both arms to his side, fists clenched, causing the sphere to suddenly condense into a small ball of energy in front of him.

"STAR CANNON!" He roared before throwing both hands forward, as if he was shoving the blast away. It suddenly exploded outward into a massive energy wave that consumed all but one of the PTO scouts, with the Brench who had recognized the attack managing to get out of the way and ran for his damn fool life. Gula has still panting from the amount of effort the attack took. His aura faded, and his eyes returned to their normal onyx as his hair fell back to its normal position. He floated there exhaustedly before he turned to head back to Atlas, as much as he didn't want to. He just hoped that one of those rich people hadn't stolen his damn bag. He'd already made enough of a mess of Atlas.

The last bit of the fight was hazy for him. He'd been conscious of the fact that his power had skyrocketed well beyond what he'd thought possible. The dead PTO scout had reported it was 12000. He remembered that much. He thought back to when he'd fought Aikon and he'd suddenly felt that massive burst of power. This didn't feel the same. When he'd fought Aikon, it was as if everything had slowed down and that he was in complete control. This was different. It was more akin to a berserker rage. He still had some recollection of what happened, but it was hazy, mired in a cloud of anger and a compulsion to fight.

Then there was the Star Cannon. The move was one that ran in the family. His grandfather had invented it and passed it down to his father, who had then passed it down to Gula's siblings. He'd seen it enough times to know the technique, but he'd never actually used it before. He simply didn't have the strength for it. Even at his current level, sans that weird power boost, the move would have taken him minutes to charge. However, he'd just done it in a matter of seconds. About twenty of them, but that was still impressive for the technique.

The technique had been developed for destroying cities that had advanced enough technology that they could harm a high-level Saiyan, hence how the charging method for the attack involved projecting as much energy around the user as a barrier before condensing the barrier for the actual attack. There was still vulnerability to it, but not as much as some other techniques used for city or planet busting.

After covertly searching (Well, as covertly as he could, he was walking wounded and people weren't blind), Gula managed to find his bag and jetted out of Atlas as fast as he could. After a few hours of flying, Gula managed to find a secluded island in the ocean and gave it a quick search for Grimm and/or food. After concluding that there were no Grimm on the island, Gula grabbed his bedroll and set himself up on the beach. It was high tide, so he didn't have to worry about waking up the next morning soaked to the bone or floating in the middle of the ocean. Or drowned.

Normally, he'd have gone and tried to catch some fish, but Gula was just too exhausted to bother. So he just laid down and let sleep take him. The day had been long and trying, and now he just needed to rest.

* * *

The Bas captain knew he shouldn't feel nervous. He'd sent ten warriors all with power levels in the thousand range to bring him back that monkey's head. But still, he couldn't help but feel restless. He'd paced the entire ship, barking at the remaining crew to keep them on task and not bumming around, though he had a feeling that they stopped working the moment he was out of earshot.

"Spacing myself is starting to look more appealing by the hour." The Bas muttered as he rubbed his temples. Well, tried to. His short arms made that difficult. The Bas marched back to his captain's chair and saw the communicator light blinking. Someone was trying to send a transmission.

The Bas hopped into his chair and gave the order two the crew. Immediately, gasps for breath and grunts of pain were heard from the other side. The captain's eyes widened. This didn't bode well.

" _C… c c… Captain…_ urgh _… Captain! We need… We… help… We need help!"_ A voice coughed from the other end. The captain's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Mission report." The Bas demanded. The voice coughed again.

" _Sir…_ cough cough… _the Saiyan… We were about to… to kill him when… when his power suddenly shot up to 12000! He tore us apart like pap… like paper!"_

The Bas' jaw dropped. 12000?! That was a higher power level than his remaining crew combined!

" _Sir… There's_ Hack… Cough… wheeze… _There's one more thing… He kn… He knew the st… The Star Cannon… He used it… to ki… kill the rest of… rest of the attack squad… It's just me and Graise left…"_

The Bas' now hit the floor. He'd only ever known one person who could use that attack and they were definitely not the young Saiyan on this backwater planet.

"You are certain it was the Star Cannon?" The Bas asked, trying to keep his cool.

" _Yes sir…"_

There was a hacking sound, followed by what sounded like someone coughing up blood.

" _Yes, it was definitely… definitely the Star Cannon. The field was a dea… dead give away."_ The soldier answered.

The Bas leaned back in his seat.

"Alright, I'll send someone down to retrieve you and Graise." The Bas replied before giving the order to do just that. From there, the Bas laced his fingers together and took a deep breath.

"Everyone clear the bridge. I need to make a call." The Bas ordered. The bridge crew looked surprised, but they did as ordered. The Bas sat alone for some time before manually opening a transmission line. He waited for a few minutes before the call was answered.

"Hello, it's been a while. I recently discovered something that I believe could be of some relevance to you."

* * *

 **And that's where we'll end it for today! The PTO came to murder Gula and Gula murdered them! Almost. Some of them got away.**

 **Creativity: AND NO COMPLAINING ABOUT IT!**

 **Author: Ummm… okay…**

 **On a semi-related note, we got the first transformation in the Wrathful form! I knew I wanted to do this one for a few reasons. Number one, Kaioken is learned from King Kai or possibly Goku, neither of which will be involved for a looooong time. Number 2, False Super Saiyan is what I'd approximate to a x25 multiplier, which is too far. Maximum you can get from Wrathful form is x10, which Gula didn't use. He had x5. Also, the reason he snaps out of it more easily than Broly is because he has combat experience and isn't sucked into battle frenzies like the inexperienced Broly would. Still wanted to touch on how it still is a bit toll on the brain though.**

 **It'll probably be a while before we get to the next fight that uses a transformation, but I might have a training montage for it.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, how would you train that transformation?**

 **Author: We can figure that out later.**

 **Anyway, before we go, I want to touch on one more thing. I mentioned in the opening blurb that I recently launched a project in the Kingdom Hearts fandom called Before: Kingdom Hearts. Currently I have eight chapters written for it, seven of which are on the site. I'm torn between two different structure styles for it, so I wrote four chapters for each style and have been putting them out one at a time every Tuesday and Saturday. If you are interested, please go and read them and let me know which of the two styles you think is better.**

 **Alright, I think we're about done here for today. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please check out Discord and Before: KH, and I'll see you next time!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Greetings everyone!**

 **Creativity: ACK!**

 **Author: What are you jumping over? I told you we were starting on this one a little earlier, didn't I?**

 **Creativity: I thought we were in the middle of something else!**

 **Author: Maybe we should cut back on the number of active projects. I think you're starting to crack.**

 **Anyway, wee bit of news for you all. Limit Breaker has broken a record and reached a milestone!**

 **Limit Breaker got over 1100 reads in under twenty-four hours!**

 **Limit Breaker has reached over thirty thousand reads since it launched in late January!**

 **So, yeah, that feels awesome. Big thanks to everyone who has or will read this story and I hope you continue to enjoy my work.**

 **Speaking of my work, I've published the last chapter of Before: Kingdom Hearts before we go on hiatus to finish the rest, and to listen to feedback regarding structure style.**

 **Creativity: We'd really appreciate it if you gave it a read and let us know which one sounds better to you.**

 **Author: Alright, let's handle the reviews:**

 **Hawk: Wrathful form will only go as far as x10, since the form is derived from the Great Ape power, and Great Ape goes up x10.**

 **Loki's Tongue: I congratulate you for your bravery in sharing. I hope what I do write helps you deal with all that.**

 **KongKing94: Remarkably similar to Loki's tongue… I'm assuming you're one of the friends that Loki mentioned? Anyway, like I said…** _ **ahem (adopts Frieza voice)**_ **I don't do requests. I am currently working on three, moving to four projects, plus I have my job, and that doesn't take into account when college starts.**

 **In other words, and I don't want to sound like a jackass but if I must I must, PLEASE stop sending me story requests. I am not going to do it. And no, I'm not going to post your breakdown for a story. I sincerely believe that if you've put this much thought and passion into it, then you can make it into reality. The version I write can only disappoint because it will not be my story.**

 **Madmagnusmax: Alright, considering how you, Kong and Loki all posted these long bits, I am going to assume you all coordinated this, or are the same person. Again, see above. Sorry to disappoint.**

 **DragonBall: If I could draw, it'd have one already. In fact, if someone wants to create a cover for the story, I will forever honor you on my profile page. I don't exactly have the budget to commission artwork right now. Also, it will obviously stay as your artwork (though I do ask that inspiration be credited)**

 **Avenger: Thank you very much, and no comment.**

 **Cbustroyer: No comment, and like I said in the PM, I know my limits and depicting a convincing romantic relationship is beyond me right now. Might give it a shot sooner or later, but it would be an experiment.**

 **Guest 1: No comment.**

 **Guest 2: Yes. Yes, he probably is.**

 **Ferdiad: Like I detailed in our PM exchange, the Star Cannon isn't important to DBZ, but it does have some importance to Limit Breaker. To those unsure of what I mean, I've made mention of it in chapters where Gula is trying to develop new techniques.**

 **Creativity: Wow, responses took longer than usual today.**

 **Author: No kidding. Also, I'm probably going to be getting rid of those supersize reviews from now on. Sorry to Loki, Kong and Magnus, but they're a bit much.** **But now it's all done! And all that's left is for us to give the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **And then say the following: We now proudly present chapter 17 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

Gula groaned as he slowly sat up, shaking his head to try and dispel his drowsiness. All he succeeded at was dispelling a large amount of sand that had accumulated in his mane during the night. As Gula got up and stretched, groaning at how stiff he was, he noticed that his clothes, as well as under his clothes were also covered in sand. How it had gotten there through his bedroll was beyond him, but now that he was aware of it, it was really aggravating him. After doing some stretches to loosen up (and shake off a bit more sand) Gula leapt into the ocean and 'flew' down a ways before holding out his arms to either side and beginning to spin in place as fast as he could! The effect on the surface was a whirlpool beginning to start, while the story underwater involved all manner of sea life fighting to stay out of the incoming vortex.

After he was satisfied he'd removed all the sand from his body, Gula flew straight up threw the vortex he'd created before looking down and frowning.

"Yeah, I should probably do something about that…" He muttered before throwing a blast down, creating an underwater explosion that put an effective end to the whirlpool. Plus, it had the unintended consequence of launching several fresh (and freshly killed) fish into the air. Gula's stomach took over and he shot forward, catching all of the fish before they hit the water.

"I wonder how saltwater fish will taste compared to freshwater fish." Gula mused as he flew back to the island and impaled the fish on sticks while he started searching through his pack for his knife. After he managed to retrieve it, he went about cleaning the fish out and got a fire going.

As he waited for the fish to cook, he reminisced about the fight from yesterday. The last time he'd felt this sore was when he'd still been living on Planet Vegeta after a 'training session' with one of his family members. Gula suspected most of that came from the hailstorm of blasts he'd been under before he experienced that power surge. If he hadn't gotten that boost, he'd probably be dead right about now. Still, that powerup still had Gula concerned, namely with how close he came to falling into a battle frenzy. Battle frenzies were common among younger, less experiences Saiyans who got too caught up in the swell of battle. A Saiyan in a battle frenzy would be locked into the fight aspect of fight or flight, often abandoning whatever fight they were in over the smallest distractions. It was dangerous to allies and enemies alike, since if an ally caught the attention of the frenzied Saiyan, said ally was likely to end up dead. Battle frenzies were often cited as a contributing factor to the destruction of Planet Sadal. There was often training before a Saiyan reached two digits of age to prevent them from happening, since the Saiyans were already down one home planet, they didn't need another one under their belt.

Still, that power brought him close to it, and he considered that pretty concerning. As it was, there wasn't anyone approaching a power level of two thousand, let alone twelve thousand that could stop him if something like this happened again.

"Okay, stop and think for a second. That was obviously a fight or flight response. If I got pushed that far again, it'd be because I am in a life or death situation." Gula muttered to himself as he tended the roasting fish.

The only reason he was so concerned about a battle frenzy was because while he was more than aware of the phenomenon, he hadn't received any training for preventing one from overtaking him, since his family had been dismissive of the possibility that he could do any real damage, should he slip into one during a training session.

"Just need to be careful from now on." He muttered as he looked down at his hands, sparks of energy dancing across his palm. While he didn't think about it that much, he'd only become more aware of just how strong he was, relative to the people of Remnant and almost getting sucked into a battle frenzy was an even greater reminder of that. Years of being the weakest of his people had caused him to forget that, while amongst the Saiyans of Planet Vegeta he was weak, he was still leagues stronger than many other species, a fact that only became more apparent when he discovered the gravity machine.

"Heh, can't imagine what other Saiyans would say to me if they caught me worrying about the fragility of another species." Gula bitterly chuckled to himself before he was immediately distracted by the smell of the fish being ready.

After demolishing his fish-kebabs, Gula grabbed his things and got ready to fly off, but he realized there was a problem.

"Where do I go?"

Only now did Gula realize what sort of trouble he was in. There was absolutely no way that his scuffle with the PTO hadn't been televised to the entirety of Remnant. Considering all the energy that had been thrown around, the speeds he and the PTO had been moving at and the general chaos of the whole affair meant that, while there would undoubtedly be tons of footage, there likely wasn't any footage of his face, though that was a small comfort. He already had at least two people in Ozpin and Ironwood that already knew who he was and had at least a working idea of _what_ he was and what he was capable of. And now, they had in-depth footage of him being pushed to his limits, which was disconcerting for a number of reasons. Plus, there was absolutely no way that this wouldn't make it to what Remnant referred to as 'the news' or 'current events', which meant that everyone on that training mission would likely put two and two together. Even if he could hope that they'd keep their mouths shut on that, it was still going to be a real problem for keeping a low profile. Though considering everything that'd been happening recently, Gula was beginning to reconsider the whole 'low profile' thing. It was just not working out. Of course, that meant he would never have any privacy ever again unless he found somewhere so remote and inhospitable to live that people stopped trying to find him for any number of reasons. And despite him being more the capable of doing so, Gula didn't find that prospect very appealing.

"I guess I could just find somewhere secluded and build a menacing fortress to scare people off. Even if it doesn't work, that'd still be entertaining." Gula mused to himself, half joking but also seriously considering the idea.

As he thought about it more, he realized he had an option that was pretty safe, relative to the other ones.

"I guess this road leads home." Gula decided as he floated off the ground and started taking off for the mountains and village he called home on this rock. First thing's first, he had to find the main land. Then he could start trying to find his way home.

* * *

Ozpin didn't know why, but when he'd been working late in his office, he'd suddenly felt the overwhelming premonition that the next twenty-four hours were going to be unbelievably stressful. Now, here he was with Ironwood in his office to show Ozpin footage of what could only be Gula locked in bloody combat with more extra-terrestrial beings, and Ozpin could safely say that he'd not seen a battle this intense for a very long time, possibly ever. Gula was tossed through buildings, unleashing blasts of energy well beyond what he'd been using in the mountain battle, and then there was his final attack. The sheer amount of devastation Gula could pack into that one attack was chilling to Ozpin. The blast had a diameter larger than Gula was tall, and it had left no trace of its victims. That alone was terrifying.

Ironwood looked a little bit pale, watching the footage again. They'd looped through the scattershot footage a few times now, and while they couldn't see his face, they both knew who it was.

"Alright Ozpin, as much as we both want to ignore this, we can't. Not anymore. That _alien_ just had a grudge match that had the potential to cause massive destruction to Atlas, left three charred alien _corpses_ strewn across the streets and clearly is many times stronger than he let on, _which is saying something!_ " Ironwood declared. As much as Ozpin wanted to agree, there was still a glaring issue;

"James, be realistic here. What can we honestly do against power like that? As much as I despise having a situation out of our control, that's exactly what's going on. This extra-terrestrial scenario is entirely out of our hands and we do not have the means to take control." Ozpin reminded James, who just looked away, running both hands through his head.

"Ozpin, you cannot honestly tell me there is nothing we can do. We're supposed to protect Remnant for Oum's sake!" James exclaimed. Ozpin rubbed his temples as the footage began replaying again.

"James, your kingdom as a whole has the strongest military force, as well as the greatest technological advancement, so you tell me if there is a solution. You are aware of the Maidens' existence as well as what they are capable of, so tell me if they are powerful enough to stand up against the boy's full power. If that was indeed his full power." Ozpin replied. Ironwood turned to look back at Ozpin.

"What do you mean 'if that was his full power'? You can't honestly tell me that he's possibly even stronger." Ironwood questioned, sounding almost desperate. Ozpin laced his fingers together.

"James, do you remember how Qrow described the boy after the battle in the Vale mountains? He was bloody, bruised and exhausted to the point of unconsciousness, obviously having used as much of his strength that he had. He claimed that he'd grown approximately three times as strong since that battle, which I would say is about accurate based on most of the fight in Atlas. At least, up until the very end. Something was different at the end of that fight. His power suddenly went well beyond what even Gula probably thought he was capable of." Ozpin assessed. James grit his teeth as his hands clenched into fists.

"Gula is well beyond any one power we have, perhaps even all of them. So tell me James, what can we do?" Ozpin asked, his voice betraying that he was just as stressed about this as James was. Ozpin slumped back in his chair and rubbed his forehead with one hand.

"And now, all of this is revealed to the world. If Salem didn't know about him before, she would be foolish to not know now. Salem may be many things, but she is not a fool." Ozpin muttered. James took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing.

"Do you think she'll try to recruit him?" Ironwood asked. Ozpin stroked his chin.

"I can't say for sure. As I said, he now undoubtedly outstrips Salem in strength, and I doubt she would be able to maintain order among her subordinates if one of them obviously outclassed her. That's not to say she won't try, however." Ozpin thought aloud. James crossed his arms in thought.

"What about the ones he was fighting? Is it possible she might attempt to approach them?" James suggested. Ozpin considered it.

"I'd say that's much more likely than attempting to recruit Gula, though still unlikely. For one, as far as I know, there's no way to find them. If they are indeed traversing space, then they most likely have a transport that's nearby Remnant. Considering Dust loses all effect upon leaving Remnant's atmosphere, all the kingdoms shelved their space programs until an alternative fuel source could be found. And of course, the SDC has been stifling that research as it may lead to profits taking a hit." Ozpin mused. James winced a bit at the mention of the SDC. They did tend to interfere with any and all research that might reduce Remnant's dependence on Dust, even though anyone who thought about it long enough realized that Dust wouldn't last forever. However, on the subject of a space program…

"James, if I recall, Atlas was planning to build an observatory a few years ago, correct?" Ozpin asked. Ironwood nodded suspiciously.

"Yes, there were plans, even had a property picked out for it. However, the SDC was willing to fund and I suspect that Jacques went out of his way to make it harder to seek out funding." Ironwood replied. Ozpin rolled his eyes a bit. Of course Jacques had done that.

"I think that all circumstances considered, that project should be brought forward again. Use the footage as well as the armor and pod if you need to. Assuming Remnant continues on for the foreseeable future, we need to know about this sort of thing well in advance. Perhaps we should send word to the other schools and councils about this situation. An observatory being constructed in each kingdom is probably going to be a necessity now. We can't have alien threats sneaking up on us like this again." Ozpin concluded. James had to agree that they couldn't get caught with their pants down again. Assuming the planet would still be there in the future.

James collected his scroll from the desk and made his way to the elevator, already selecting a number that no doubt belonged to someone in Atlas R&D. Ozpin made note to contact the other headmasters as well as the Vale council to bring the extra-terrestrial activities before them, as well as request the commissioning of a Vale-based observatory. Gula may have told them to keep out of his affairs, but his affairs concerned all of Remnant now. And while Ozpin currently could think of no way to even the power gap between Remnant's Hunters and the extra-terrestrials, Remnant was now involved in the galactic stage and needed to be prepared accordingly. Otherwise the next alien arrival could potentially be their last. Assuming there was a next time, of course.

* * *

As Gula saw the familiar mountains in the distance, he felt a strange sense of comfort.

"Guess this is what home feels like after a while away." He mused as he lowered his speed, the red aura around his body dissipating as he returned to the mountains he had called home since he'd arrived on Remnant over six years ago. After he landed at the cave entrance, he slipped inside and created a small Ki ball to illuminate the area. Nothing had changed since he'd last been and there was no evidence that someone had entered it since his departure. As much as Gula wanted to just set up his home again, he had a feeling he'd be leaving again soon, and he didn't want to set everything up, only to have to tear it down again.

"Guess I'll just book a room in town, at least until I'm certain of whether or not I'm sticking around." Gula decided before shouldering his pack and flying towards the village, setting down far enough away that they wouldn't see him in the air. The trek back into town was almost nostalgic for him, as he recalled all the times he came back with animals to sell to Ross, that one time he came back to the village and found the inn burned to the ground after a freak accident involving fire Dust and helped build it back up, even the training he'd started providing to the other adolescents, as recent as that one was.

"This really must be what home feels like." Gula mused as the town came into view. As he approached, the guards noticed him, and their mouths opened a bit in surprise.

"You… You're back!" One of them exclaimed. Gula smirked a little.

"Don't know for how long, but yeah." He replied as he strode through the gate. Heads were slowly but surely turning as he walked through the village, and he heard hushed whispers before he heard the loud bellow of a wild animal.

"GULA'S BACK!"

Almost as soon as the announcement was roared, he could see Ash and Ingo barreling towards him, the latter of which being the one that announced to the world that Gula had returned.

"Oh no…" He muttered as soon what felt like the whole town was suddenly swarming him. And then came the _questions._ Where had he gone? How was his trip? Why were his clothes all torn up? How long would he be staying? Had he _met anyone_ out there? He wasn't sure what that last one implied. Of course he'd met a ton of people while he'd been traveling. He'd been to three out of four capital cities of the four kingdoms.

"I visited Vale mostly, I wanted to go to Vacuo but there were complications, it was nice, thinking of visiting the Mistral capital next, unfortunate run-in with Grimm, I don't know, and I met a ton of people. That about cover it all?" Gula concluded, his voice clearly communicating that he was exhausted.

"We can talk more tomorrow. For now, I just wanna book a room at the inn. Let's just say the last couple of days have been… trying." He concluded as he trudged over to the inn and stepped inside.

"One room for one night." He requested. The innkeeper was a bit surprised, but still took Gula's lien and provided the room key in exchange. Gula immediately went up to the room and deposited his pack on the bed and opened it, deciding that he should probably change out of his damaged clothes. After picking out a spare copy of his usual uniform, Gula realized that ever since the Vale mountains, he'd gone without his suppression ropes. While he wasn't terribly interested in them anymore, he still felt like he was missing something from his wardrobe.

"Guess I'll have to find something to replace them later." Gula muttered before putting the pack under the bed and lay down for a nap.

Said nap actually lasted a few hours and not the maximum thirty minutes he'd been planning on and he woke up at sunset. As Gula blearily looked out the window at the orange sky.

"Sky looks surprisingly close to planet Vegeta…" Gula murmured before his thoughts were violently interrupted by his stomach loudly grumbling.

"I guess breakfast was a while ago. And a bit light. Better be careful that I don't clear out the entire kitchen…" Gula muttered before grabbing his lien pouch and wandered downstairs, took a seat at a corner booth and waited patiently for a waiter to arrive. Much to his surprise, the waiter, or waitress as it were, turned out to be a familiar face

"Hello, may I take… Gula?! When did you get back?" The waitress asked. Gula realized that she was one of adolescents he'd been teaching before he left to travel. She was one of a pair of twins, though they did have distinguishing features. The first one, Violet if Gula recalled, was a bit taller and had a more vibrant shade of purple for her hair color. Additionally, Lila usually wore an old necklace decorated with a purple stone Gula had been told was called amethyst. He didn't know the reason, but given its age, he assumed it was for sentimental reasons. The necklace was a dead giveaway here.

"Literally just. I don't know how long I'll be in town for, so I figured I'd just book a room tonight rather than set up camp and then tear it down a couple days later. I think a few of the hotels I stayed at spoiled me a little." He replied as he tilted neck to crack it.

"So, have you decided what to order?" She asked. Gula shook his head.

"Kind of hard to do that when I still can't read." He replied. Lila just blinked a few times before deciding to just roll with it.

"Just get me three of whatever menu item has the single largest amount of food." Gula replied. Lila blinked a few times once again.

"Okay… Just to be clear, you said…" She started before Gula cut her off.

"Yes, I did in fact say three, and yes, they are all for me." Gula answered her. Lila looked confused and concerned, but once again decided to roll with it. After jotting down the order, she immediately went to the kitchen to deliver the order. The inn had been decently busy when Gula had emerged from his room to get food, but now that he was down, the murmurs and whispers seemed to have dramatically increased and he was noticing that the tables and bar stools were starting to fill up. He was also aware of the large number of glances towards him that were being stolen.

" _Do they not realize I can see them? I mean, I can't quite hear them, but I can hear my name coming up a lot. And the glances aren't helping to dissuade me from that."_ Gula thought to himself, though he was too hungry to bother doing anything about it. Instead, he waited patiently, trying to ignore the fact that his stomach could probably be heard all the way at the bar. After waiting around forty-five minutes (That much food would inevitably take a while to cook) Lila returned, balancing three colossal platters of food that immediately had Gula drooling. Lila carefully set the food down and collected payment for it before Gula immediately began to attack the first platter, which consisted of roast beef, potatoes, assorted veggies and gravy. Lila watched for a few moments in awe and a bit of concern as Gula tore his way through the food.

"I… I'll Just be… going…" She stuttered at the sight before hurrying off to serve the next table. It wasn't just Lila that was dumbfounded by Gula's appetite. He'd only eaten in the village once when he was a boy and helping to rebuild the very building he was eating in, and that had been a meal that would be considered normal by Remnant standards and he'd devoured it in seconds, much to the bemusement of everyone present at the time. Now they were seeing Gula's appetite in all its terror. After a mere minute and a half, he was already starting on the second platter and he wasn't slowing down. Another minute and a half later, he was halfway through the third platter and people were looking at their own platters with faces that indicated they didn't want them anymore.

Gula let out a contented sigh as he leaned back in his seat. He hadn't had a meal like that in a long time and it felt good. Lila noticed he was done and hurried over to collect the platters before leaving.

"The more you learn, the stranger he gets." She muttered as deposited the plates in the kitchen. Gula was about to stand up when he noticed Lila coming back.

"Don't you still have work to do?" He asked. Lila shook her head.

"Just finished my shift and thought we could catch u…" She started before Gula held up his hand.

"Alright, let's drop pretences. You want to talk about training, right?" He inquired. Lila looked to the side a bit before muttering "yeah…", a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"Alright, screw it. Call the others over and we can talk about it. I know they're two booths down." He replied. Lila's eyes widened.

"How'd you…" She started asking as Gula started smirking.

"I noticed them come in a while ago, now are they gonna come over here or not?"

Lila hurried over to the group and invited them over to the booth. Gula smirked a bit more when he saw their embarrassed faces.

"You know, you could have been way less obvious." He told them as they all sat down.

"No need to rub it in…" Muttered Ingo, getting a snort of laughter out of Gula before he addressed them properly.

"So, how has training been going since I left?" He asked. The looks he got weren't exactly encouraging.

"Well, we haven't slacked off at all, but we still feel like we've all kinda hit a wall." Ash explained. Gula raised an eyebrow.

"Hit a wall how, exactly?" He asked shrewdly. Violet was the one to answer this time.

"Well, we just don't know where to go from here. We've been practicing the basics and sparring with each other, even looking for some suggestions from the Hunter team that took up residence here before you left. We just aren't really advancing anymore." She explained. Gula stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You and Lila intend to apply to Haven next year, correct? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it mandatory for all Hunters to have a weapon?" Gula inquired. Considering Violet and Lila were both aspiring to be Huntresses, that would be something they'd need to know. The two of them nodded in the affirmative.

"Even if your fighting style is usually empty handed, you need to have a weapon of some kind." Lila answered.

"Have either of you considered what kind of weapon you want to use?" He continued. Both of them shook their heads.

"We've been doing research on construction and design, but neither of us has a concrete idea of what to build yet. It's just hard to get a feel for it." Violet replied. Gula nodded then came to a decision.

"Well, I think the first thing to do would be to test a bunch of different basic weapons and see what feels right, then go from there. I'd suggest trying to build or otherwise acquire some wooden replicas of basic weapons like swords, knives, axes, spears and so on, test them and see what feels most natural, then go from there. Actually, the Hunters could probably help with that." Gula suggested. The twins glanced at each other before nodding, then Garrow raised his hand.

"What about the rest of us? We're not improving much either. I mean, we're still getting stronger, but we're not really improving technique-wise either." He pointed out. Gula frowned a bit.

"I can't really appraise that without getting a first-hand look. Tell you what, I'll stick around for three days for training before I start thinking about whether or not I head out of town again. Sound good?" He suggested. The grins, cries of yes and enthusiastic nodding were all he needed to see and hear.

"Alright then, we have a plan. Now then, I'm going to go get some sleep. You would not believe the day I had yesterday." Gula declared as he bade them farewell, heading back up to his rented room.

"Well, guess I am sticking around after all… Just hope nothing… inter…zzz…zzz…zzz"

Gula had passed out almost instantly once his head hit the pillow and his peaceful snores filled the room. It was the most comfortable sleep he'd had in some time.

* * *

Salem had seen many strange, amazing, logic defying and borderline otherworldly things in her long, long life, but this one was right up there on her top ten list. She had quite a substantial hold in Atlas through Watts and other influences, thus she had plenty of high-end surveillance data to work with. Not that she really needed it for this. There were plenty of scroll recordings of the titanic battle that had taken place in the skies above Atlas. It had been a battle of one against ten with each combatant displaying power that Salem hadn't seen anything quite like since the halcyon days of Remnant; a time from before it was even known as Remnant.

Watts had been bothering her about some secret investigation that Ironwood had begun some time ago, but she'd given the illicit copy of the initial report a once-over and dismissed it as trivial at best. However, as she reviewed some of it now things were clicking into place. Ironwood had received an encrypted message from Ozpin and then opened this secret investigation shortly afterwards. Looking at it now, they were investigating potential extraterrestrial activity on Remnant. While it sounded absurd at first, the mounting evidence was becoming hard to argue against. Additionally, there was the whole 'battle of Atlas' that went pretty hand in hand with the aforementioned evidence. The question then became how she was to respond to this.

Whatever these aliens were, it was clear that one of them, an ordinary human or faunus by all appearances, was being targeted by the rest. Ironwood seemed to tie one of these extra terrestrials to a meteorite that crashed on Remnant well over six years ago, and she was willing to bet her magic that it was the victor of the battle. How else would he have gone relatively unnoticed on Remnant all these years?

And then there was this strange power that all of them had. Regardless of species (She assumed a minimum of three distinct species present in that battle) They all commanded that strange power. It wasn't magic, of that she was certain. She'd most certainly have sensed a magical presence as powerful as that boy's final attack. But regardless of the sheer devastation, the fact that all eleven combatants could use that power, regardless of species told her that this power could be learned. Was it some as-of-yet unknown application of Aura? Salem didn't think so. It had clearly done nothing to shield the boy from damage, though he'd taken much more punishment than she'd have thought someone not cursed with immortality was capable of taking.

This was something new, and something that could put a real dent in her plans. Or, perhaps it could make for some convenient changes if she could acquire it herself. She needed to see more if it; to study it. If she could attain this power for herself and potentially pass its secrets on to her Fall Maiden, then nothing would be able to stand in her way. She could abandon subterfuge and roll across the land, taking the Maidens' powers and claiming the relics for herself.

However, the question became how to do so. She didn't believe that approaching this extra-terrestrial would work out. Oh, with careful timing, preparation and no small degree of tact, she had no doubt she could persuade him to part with some of his knowledge, but that all assumed he would be interested in listening. Besides, that plan also relied on having something to bargain with, and she currently had no idea what she could offer him. As much as she was reluctant to admit it, that final attack was beyond her ability to match, no matter how much it drained her opponent. Immortality would only get her so far if she was blasted clean off of Remnant's surface and into space, or deep under Remnant's crust. That would be… unpleasant.

So she had two options if she wanted to pursue this plan. Option one was to study him and see if she could learn more about his strange power through observation. More time consuming, but probably the safer option in more ways than one. Option two was to try and find some way to bargain with him, which was the quicker option, but much more risky.

As Salem considered it more however, she realized that perhaps there was a third option. She smirked as she extended her hand outward, creating a blood-red magic circle in the image of her sigil. From it emerged a small insectoid Grimm.

"Some improvements need to be made, but just maybe…" She murmured to herself as she allowed herself a small grin. The Grimm dissolved into a black muck, forming into a ball that began to roil and froth.

Indeed, she was always fond of finding option three.

* * *

 **Oh, this ain't good.**

 **Author: No, no it ain't.**

 **Wow, this one was a bit of a drag to write at first, but then we really buckled down and boom, the last few thousand just came so naturally.**

 **Creativity: Well, you did say that the ambience helped in Discord.**

 **Author: Yeah, that was probably a real contributing factor.**

 **So, now Salem knows something fishy is afoot and she's beginning to draw up plans.**

 **Creativity: It's kinda nice to return to the village. Familiar setting we haven't revisited for a while, catching up with old characters and such…**

 **Author: Yeah, it's been a long time since we came back to the town. I kinda felt a little bad for ditching them pretty early, but I had my reasons. Besides, everything's going according to plan so far.**

 **Creativity: True enough. So, are we closing off now?**

 **Author: Yeah, I think we've covered everything. Besides, I'm really tired.**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed Chapter 17, I hope to see you in Discord, see ya next time!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Friday is here again!**

 **Creativity: Are we gonna wait until a Friday rolls around before we publish this so that it'll make something resembling sense, or just leave it as the day when we started writing this?**

 **Author: Why are you questioning me on that?**

 **Creativity: I'm feeling mildly rebellious today.**

 **Author: Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with work.**

 **Anyway, it's been over two weeks since I sat down to work on Limit Breaker, and I've gotten some decent work since then. I've resumed work on Before: KH and I've finished two chapters for that already, as well as completed another chapter of Resurgence. Incidentally, if you follow that story that makes four out of five chapters before the next set gets published.**

 **Now then, lets get down to answering reviews:**

 **hawkeyestratos1996: Alright, Ima just have to say this now before someone gets hurt and people will leave it alone; STOP ASKING ME ABOUT GULA GETTING AURA AND SEMBLANCE. I have tried to be nice about it and said it will get here when it gets here, but people keep asking me so I'm going to put my foot down. Are we clear? Excellent.**

 **Avenger: No comment, no comment and not likely. I don't have many plans for the Oozaru form, at least for now.**

 **Guest #1: Eh, Gula's a wee bit more of a… traditionalist, if you catch my drift. As for the training, no plans for more training at the moment. And the rest, no comment.**

 **Guest #2: well, inquiring minds are going to be left out in the rain. Apologies.**

 **Creativity: Well, that's the reviews taken care of, now here's the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: Thank you for covering that! Now then, without further ado, I present chapter 18 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

It was a peaceful morning as the sunbeams streamed through the window of Gula's rented room. Birds were chirping and the tree branches shifted idly in the wind. Gula shifted in his bed contentedly, quietly snoring. The peacefulness of the morning could not quite properly be put into words.

Nor could Gula's sudden frustration when the sound of raised voices and people running about ruined it all and caused him to awaken. He blearily wiped the sleep from his eyes while reciting the numerous reasons why he could not blow up whoever was responsible for waking him up before pulling on his clothes on and making his way downstairs. Much to his tired surprise and confusion, the tavern was completely empty. Not even the barkeeper was there.

"Oh please tell me I didn't sleep through a bandit and/or Grimm attack." Gula muttered as he wandered outside. Thankfully, the people in the streets indicated that he did not do that. However, they were all crowded near one of the buildings, a phenomenon that Gula had not seen in his nearly six years of visiting this village. His curiosity sufficiently piqued, he strode over and tapped the shoulder of one of the villagers, which happened to be Verde. She jumped a little bit as she turned, but quickly relaxed when she saw who it was. Her face was noticeably pale.

"What's got the village like this? And why are you so jumpy?" Gula inquired. Verde's face looked grave.

"Someone managed to breach Vale's defences somehow, and Grimm are swarming into the city as we speak." She explained in a hushed tone. Gula's eyes widened.

"Wait, when did this happen?!" He exclaimed.

"During sunrise. News was a bit slow to reach us, but the situation doesn't look good." Verde replied. Gula could only stare in surprise as Verde turned back to keep up with the news report. As the crowd tightened a bit, Gula kept standing there, his mind racing, his instincts simultaneously telling him to jet to Vale right now and start blasting the Grimm to dust, and to hold and maintain whatever cover he had left. As his brain kept fighting with itself suddenly everything stopped, and the storm cleared.

"OH TO HELL WITH SUBTLETY!" Gula roared at the top his longs before there was a terrific _BOOM_ that left a small crater where he'd just been standing. The people who heard his shout were already shrinking away from it, but they soon dropped to their knees with their hands clapped over their ears when the boom happened. They turned around to see the space where Gula was standing now unoccupied (save a crater that was three feet wide and four inches deep). Then their eyes slowly turned to the sky and saw what looked like a red star in the distance. In the middle of the day… Ingo was the one to best sum up what was running through everyone's thoughts at that very moment.

"What in the name of Oum just happened?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Gula was racing towards Vale as fast as he could push himself, the miles vanishing below him in a blur.

"You visit for a few days, leave and everything falls apart!" He shouted angrily to himself as he saw Vale approaching in the distance. He could see what he guessed was the Atlas military.

"Guess that explains why they were so slow to respond when me and the PTO were putting holes in Atlas." Gula muttered as he started gathering energy around his body. He could see plenty of Grimm in the streets below and knew that, as much as he would absolutely love it, carpet-bombing the infested areas of Vale with Ki blasts was not the solution needed here. Here, he needed precision. After finding a point where the Grimm were advancing, he rocketed straight downward into the city streets and shot forward, driving his fist straight through the skull of the first Grimm! He didn't stop, immediately rocketing towards the second one, then the third and fourth and fifth. To an onlooker, it would appear as if a red laser was ricocheting between the Grimm, killing them with its very touch.

As Gula went, he'd occasionally throw Ki blasts at any Grimm that were at a higher elevation. No Grimm within his sight lived more than a few seconds at most before he obliterated it. As he tore his way through the dark horde, his attacks and transitions slowly became smoother, more fluid. Every motion naturally led into another as he rent the Grimm asunder.

Soon, he'd cleared many of the streets completely of Grimm, with only a couple of blocks surrounding the main square remaining. Coincidentally, that was where the main breach was. Gula had noticed it when he sped through to head to the next street over and had noticed a familiar four girl team already on site.

" _I don't know what I was expecting."_ Gula thought to himself as continued to tear his way through the Grimm. It did make sense that Beacon students would get involved given the proximity of the school to the outbreak, but he had the sneaking suspicion that they weren't just the first responders. Those four were a little too well acquainted with trouble. In fact, he'd go so far as to say that they knew trouble's family and were invited to weekend dinners.

Looking up, he could see a few avian Grimm he hadn't gotten to yet, deciding to save them for the end. He felt like doing something a bit more… flashy to deal with them.

Team RWBY thought that, at least for today, they'd seen it as crazy as it was going to get. They'd found an underground subway system being used by infamous criminal Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, who planned to use trapped subway cars to blast holes in the subway tunnels to lead Grimm into the heart of Vale. That had been crazy enough. During their attempts to stop the train from reaching Vale, they'd fought Torchwick, his umbrella-wielding minion, a White Fang officer who's weapon was a goddamn _chainsaw,_ and a few illegally procured _Atlesian Paladins_ before they somehow wound up in Vale's main square. They'd spent the next few hours desperately trying to contain the Grimm attack with the assistance of Teams JNPR and CFVY, who'd joined the fight about an hour in, with the additions of Professors Goodwitch and Port, followed not to long after by Dr. Oobleck and… Ruby and Yang's pet corgi. Oh, and the Atlesian fleet that had parked itself at Beacon _finally_ made itself useful.

But no, that wasn't quite enough crazy for one day. Now they had what appeared to be a crimson laser that was racing through the streets and obliterating Grimm by the hundreds! It was moving too fast for anyone to make out what it was, but the three Beacon teams (particularly team RWBY) could hazard a guess. The energy was just too similar in appearance to a certain lightshow they'd bore witness to in between semesters recently.

"Is that…?" Blake started before a red flash went sailing past her head to destroy a Creep that had been… well, creeping up behind her.

"It couldn't…" Weiss stuttered as the red streak shot down a nearby street, decimating a pack of Beowolves as it went.

"Of all the times he could show up…" Yang muttered with a grin. Ruby didn't say anything. Instead, she was making one long noise of excitement that was steadily rising in volume.

Suddenly, the crimson streak shot into the center of the square then straight up, coming to a stop in the middle of the air and directly in the path of a flock of Nevermores, all of varying size. They could make out a humanoid shape in the middle of the red light, but so much of it was being emitted that they couldn't tell who specifically it was. Or at least, they wouldn't if they didn't already know who was in that light. It began to glow brighter and brighter as the figure cupped their hands in front of their chest, right hand below and left hand above. A red star began to form in their palms, followed by what looked like black bubbles being pulled into the star. As it all coalesced into a sphere, the figure drew back their right arm, sphere in hand before thrusting it forward with a loud roar, sending a massive blast of energy that erased the Nevermores instantly!

All the teams and teachers were left speechless. The figure wrapped in red floated there a few more moments before vanishing from thin air. There was a series of high-pitched _shting_ noises afterwards, but no one could find the source.

Finally someone said something.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

No one was surprised that it was Ruby screamed that. They were mostly still recovering from the sight of several large murder birds being wiped off of the face of Remnant with what appeared to be a living death ray. There was a few more moments of silence following before they managed to collect themselves and regroup, gathering to discuss what to do next and, more importantly, the insanity they'd just witnessed.

"So, that was clearly Gula." Weiss stated. No one bothered arguing that. They couldn't conceive of whoever else that could have been.

"Since when could he do… well, that?! I mean, obviously he could do some crazy stuff! We saw it in the mountains. But that last… What even was that?!" Yang exclaimed.

"And more importantly, why wasn't he teaching us that?! That was amazing! He was all…!"

Ruby started making random action noises and swinging her arms around, causing everyone to step out of range, not wishing to get smacked in the nose by Ruby's hands.

"Ruby, I don't know if it's even possible to teach… whatever THAT was. It was probably his Semblance. Or at least part of it was, I'd bet." Blake tried to reason, though she was doubting her own argument heavily. What Gula had done, assuming it was him, defied all possibility.

"Well, at least we have another answer as to why he declined professor Ozpin's invitation to come to Beacon. He clearly doesn't need it." Weiss muttered, her voice sounding ever so slightly sulky. The team then started trying their best to cheer her up while they hurried over to see Torchwick being carted off to prison. Somehow, he was still being unusually chatty as he was led away. The team boarded their own Bullhead to head back to the academy where they could continue discussing the conclusion to the day's insanity, as well as get some rest. Lots of rest. Rest was very, very much needed.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, on Vale's rooftops…_

Cinder Fall, current holder of half of the Fall Maiden's power, was not used to being surprised. Everything she did was carefully plotted and studied from every angle; a lesson that had been drilled into her brain by her master. And when her plans went awry even slightly, it tended to put her in a poor mood.

So, one could imagine that Roman Torchwick jumping the gun on her plans to breach Beacon's defenses and allow Grimm into the city because he got spooked by a team of first-year students, costing them precious resources and goodwill with the White Fang due to the numbers lost in the tunnel collapse would put her in a terrible mood.

And make no mistake, she was indeed in a terrible mood. However, that mood was currently having to wait its turn at the forefront of her thoughts, as she was currently trying to parse out just _what the hell_ she and her subordinates had witnessed in Beacon's square! They'd gone to assist in cleaning up the mess that Torchwick had made, trying to salvage as much of the original plan as they could from his failure, when suddenly a strange being had appeared that obliterated what Cinder guessed to be about 90% of the Grimm that had made it into the city in a matter of _minutes,_ and that was if she was lowballing it. And that wasn't even touching on when they flew into the air and unleashed a power she'd never thought possible, destroying a flock of Nevermores in such a manner that it rewrote the definition on overkill.

She'd pushed herself, trying to make out what she had seen in the red aura, even trying to boost herself with the Fall Maiden's powers to better perceive who stood within that crimson veil, but she hadn't seen much beyond a silhouette. Thus, she and the aforementioned subordinates had reconvened on the rooftops to figure out how to proceed from here. Those present were Emerald Sustrai (her thief), Mercury Black (her assassin) and Neopolitan, or Neo for short. She was mildly incensed by the fact that her boss was currently incarcerated, but she didn't object to it. She knew why it happened just as much as the rest of the group did. All they were waiting for now was Adam; their representative in the White Fang.

"Alright, I'm just going to get the fact that this was one gigantic mess out of the way now so we can discuss _Just what in the depths of hell was that?!"_ Mercury Black exclaimed. Cinder grit her teeth behind her lips, trying not to lose her cool.

"If I had the answer to that, we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we?" Cinder ground out. It didn't make any sense. Next to her master and the gods, the power of the Maidens was supposed to be unrivaled. If that was indeed the case, then what exactly was it that had destroyed her mistress' army? She recognized magic when she saw it, a bonus of possessing that gift herself, and she knew that the topic of conversation hadn't used magic to destroy the Grimm. Nor did she believe it to be Aura.

"What I do know is that I will need the full power of the Fall Maiden if I am to match that entity, and even then that might not be enough." Cinder reluctantly admitted. The very words tasted foul on her tongue.

"Oh, it might not be enough, huh?! What was your first clue?! Was it the flying, the fact that it was clearing blocks of Grimm one by one _in seconds or_ was it the _GIANT, F*CK YOU LASER?!"_ Mercury half-shouted, only for Emerald to smack him upside the head. Cinder nodded in Emerald's direction, though she'd have to speak to her subordinate later about letting the higher-ups handle discipline.

"Currently, there is nothing to be done about that… thing. So, we shall focus on what can be done. With all the Dust robberies, White Fang attacks, an Atlas fleet visiting Vale and a major breach to the defenses, negativity and tensions are running high, regardless of the… mild setback. Even this mysterious savior of Vale can work to our advantage. Regardless of their actions, that display of power will make the people of Vale uneasy, which still plays to our advantage. All in all, today averaged out to a success." Cinder concluded.

"Excuse me ma'am, but there's still the issue of the White Fang. With all the members that died in the tunnels, I don't believe they'll listen to us anymore." Emerald brought up.

"No, they won't." A new voice stated. Cinder allowed herself the ghost of a smirk as she noticed Adam approaching.

"Ah, Adam. I was hoping you'd arrive soon. We were just discussing how to proceed with the plan." Cinder greeted the bull faunus.

"I'm surprised you weren't discussing the Red Warrior." Adam replied. Mercury quickly looked at Adam.

"Wait a second, you just called it the Red Warrior. You know what that thing is?!" He exclaimed. Adam didn't visibly react. Cinder frowned.

"This seems like something you should have warned us about, Adam. I trust you have an explanation?" She inquired, though there was an undertone of threat to it.

"It's a recent myth from Mistral in faunus circles. Story goes that there's a spirit or god that takes the form of a warrior clad in crimson flame that punishes those who harm faunus kind. I'd say I didn't believe it, but…" Adam started before trailing off. Emerald glared at him.

"But, what? You obviously know something more, so spill." She demanded. Everyone could tell Adam was glaring at Emerald from behind his mask, but he obliged.

"It was about four years ago. Sienna Khan and I were leading a small team to take down a Mistral based faunus trafficking ring. We'd located a compound where they kept faunus to be transferred elsewhere for sale. As we were preparing to move in, the facility went into lockdown. There were screams, those weird energy blasts, pretty sure I saw a couple of bodies go flying out windows. Then the captives started streaming out the front door and a red comet erupted out of the top of the compound. I've heard about supposed 'sightings' before, but most of them were just imitators or tricks of the light. I saw it the one time four years ago and then it vanished off of the face of Remnant. Until today, that is." Adam explained. Cinder frowned. Why hadn't she heard about this sooner? At first glance, it sounded like a potential Maiden sighting.

"Do you have anything else to tell us regarding this 'Red Warrior' as you call it? We may cross paths with it again in future." Cinder pressed. Adam shrugged.

"Like I said, I only know about the one sighting. There's a few small pockets of faunus both in and out of the White Fang that take these sightings as gospel, even praying to the Warrior for protection." Adam added.

"Wait, are you saying cult? It sounds like your saying cult." Mercury commented.

"I don't particularly care what it is. The faunus shouldn't need a god to protect them." Adam replied with a hint of distain. Cinder rubbed her temples in frustration.

"Well, I think that's all the useful information we're going to find on this 'Red Warrior' for now. The rest of the plan is in motion and assuming we play everything right, Beacon will fall." She declared, small embers rising from her right eye.

* * *

Gula had a feeling this was a bad idea, but he figured it was better to get this out of the way now instead of waiting until nightfall. Besides, he imagined that Ozpin would find a way to talk to him about this, one way or another. Better to get it out of the way now than wait for a potentially much less convenient time.

After using Rapid Movement to vanish from the square, he'd made his way to Beacon before searching for professor Ozpin. He'd first gone to his office, but it the headmaster had been out when he arrived and Gula didn't feel like waiting. Instead, he flew about the school grounds, out of sight until he saw the headmaster waiting on the landing platform. Unfortunately, it was pretty crowded; people bustling to and fro, thus Gula couldn't just fly over. Not really an issue though. He just touched down and walked over to the waiting professor.

"Hell of a day, huh?" He asked once he was within earshot. Ozpin started a bit before turning to see him.

"Quite the performance on your part, though the ending seemed a bit… showy, for my taste." Ozpin replied, taking Gula's appearance in stride. Gula shrugged.

"Heat of the moment. Anyway, I figured you'd want to talk to me about what happened, and I didn't feel like waiting for you or that Qrow guy to find me. So let's make this quick." Gula replied. Ozpin nodded.

"Alright then. Why did you come to help? I thought you were somewhere near Atlas." Ozpin asked. Gula shrugged.

"Actually I was in Mistral. Decided to go home after my last run in with _them_ wound up so public. Figured it would be a quiet place where I could figure out my next move. Instead, I wake up the next morning and find out Vale's falling apart, so I decided to do something about it." Gula answered. Ozpin eyed him carefully.

"Did this perhaps have anything to do with your little _problem_?" Ozpin asked next. Gula shrugged again.

"I have no idea, but I wouldn't bet on it. They can track me down pretty easily, so there's no reason to try and lure me in by attacking a city unless I'm already there." Gula explained. Ozpin seemed satisfied with that answer and had one more question left.

"Ignoring how quickly you must have gotten here, why did you fly from Mistral to help us? I mean no offense, but it doesn't quite seem like you." Ozpin inquired. Gula ran a hand through his unruly mane.

"It was a spur of the moment thing. Maybe I'm sentimental. Either way, I probably shouldn't have." Gula answered. Ozpin seemed a bit surprised by that.

"What makes you say that? I'd think that preventing suffering and mass death would be obvious reasons to step in." Ozpin replied. Gula huffed.

"True, but there is a price to pay for it, though who knows what that price will be. Fact is that Remnant's going to find itself on the galactic stage sooner or later and, I'm sorry about saying this by the way, Remnant is not ready for it. You have a thriving warrior culture, but your warriors are nowhere near powerful enough to keep your planet safe from what's out there and you also don't have any tradeable commodity to encourage the PTO or Galactic Patrol to invite you to join them. And since the PTO is the first to get here, that's not good news." Gula explained. Ozpin filed all that away. If it was true that Remnant was going to get involved in intergalactic politics, it was good to know everything one could before stepping into that ring.

"So you're saying that the Breach could have served a purpose for Remnant?" He asked. Gula nodded.

"A wakeup call. The reason I haven't gotten nearly as involved with your planet as I could have is because you do have one saving grace. You have Aura, which is unique to Remnant and Remnant alone. You've probably figured this out already, but my power isn't Aura. I won't go into the details here because then I'd be here for days but suffice to say is that it's one of two make-or-break superpowers for military might. Until now, that is." Gula explained. Now Gula had Ozpin's undivided attention.

"You claim that Aura can stand toe to toe with your power and whatever that second option you mentioned is?" Ozpin asked sharply. Gula shook his head.

"Not as it is now. The power I use has been around since life existed, while Aura has only been practiced since your people started, and it sounds like it's a pretty young power, relatively speaking. There hasn't been enough study put into it beyond application for Hunters, unless there's something no one's been telling me. I guess this goes against my rule of letting Remnant grow on its own, but there needs to be a fundamental shift in how Aura is studied and practiced. It's plateaued and that needs to change." Gula stated. Ozpin was definitely caught off-guard by that one. He was being told by an alien with power hitherto undreamt of that a power unique to Remnant could match this other power he kept referring to. He'd have to think on that.

"Well, I believe that covers everything. Unfortunately the Breach has left me with much to attend to, so I must take my leave." Ozpin declared before giving a polite bow and turning to leave.

"Wait a second, I still haven't asked about that pay you…" Gula started before Ozpin looked over his shoulder.

"Ah, students! I believe an old instructor of yours has come to visit!" He called out with a devilish smirk on his face. Gula looked to see teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY disembarking from three Bullheads. The moment they saw him, they immediately swarmed towards him.

"OZPIN, YOU RAT-!" Gula started before his voice was muffled by a large quantity of rose petals suddenly obscured him from sight, alongside a high-pitched squeal. This was immediately followed by him getting swarmed by eleven other students who were creating a cacophony of noise (sans Yatsuhashi and Fox). After Gula managed to extricate himself from the crowd _without_ causing any permanent injury, he managed to get them all to quiet down.

"Alright, now that we're all calm, can you ask me the questions again so I can actually unders…" He started, but apparently a few seconds was too long for them.

"Where have you been?!"

"What happened in the mountains?!"

"How were you flying?"

"How were you so fast?!"

"HOW DO YOU LASER?!"

"HOW DO I LASER?!"

Gula was at least able to pick out those last two as Ruby and Nora respectively.

"Alright, to keep it short, bad guys showed up, I fought and killed them, and the answer to the last four is this." Gula declared before lifting up his left hand and conjuring a ball of energy that was about the size of an apple. Everyone looked at it in awe, with Ruby and Nora getting a bit to absorbed by it and getting uncomfortably close.

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked as Gula dissipated the energy.

"It's life energy. I use it to perform various techniques like flying, energy waves and more." He explained. The cat was out of the bag anyway, might as well come clean on that part as well.

"How come you didn't teach us anything about that during the training camp?! That would've been awesome!" Yang whined. Gula deadpan stared at her.

"First of all, consider the horror that would be Ruby and/or Nora capable of flight and shooting energy blasts from their palms. For the rest of you, add Yang to that roster." He stated, enjoying the reactions from that, which included shock and mock (sort of) horror from the three named and shudders from everyone else before he continued.

"Second of all, because I'd rather see what Aura is capable of if pushed to new heights. For all we know, it could be just as powerful with experimentation and dedication." He answered, only for Weiss to jump in.

"Wait, you don't have your Aura unlocked? This isn't your Semblance?" She clarified. Gula nodded.

"What I do is separate from Aura and to my knowledge the two have never mixed. And before you ask, I intend to keep it that way as far as my own body goes." He clarified before turning to leave.

"I need to speak with Ozpin a bit more, so we'll have to save the rest of this for later. See ya around!" He bade farewell heading into the school. Unbeknownst to him, there were four additional pairs of eyes watching his retreating back.

"You saw that, right?" Emerald asked in a hushed tone. Mercury nodded, his gaze narrow.

"Definitely. No way that's a coincidence." Mercury replied. Cinder couldn't believe her eyes. This 'Red Warrior', mythic spirit or god (depending on who you asked) was actually just some brat who looked hardly a year older than that damn Rose girl?! She'd gotten a better look than anyone at the silhouette of this supposed spirit and one thing that had stuck out was the unruly mane of hair, as well as the tail. She couldn't quite see the tail, but she did notice that the sash the boy wore around his waist occasionally shifted. However, it was the hair that was a dead giveaway. She could not conceive the notion that two people on Remnant with hair as untamed as that mane was.

"Neo, I want you to capture him alive. I don't care how many bruises he has, how many holes you have to poke in him or even how many pieces he's in to make it happen, I want him alive for questioning." Cinder ordered. Neo grinned ear to ear when she received those orders.

"Oh and make it quick. We don't know when the next opportunity will arise." She added. Neo nodded and immediately strode off to capture her new target. She had a feeling it would be the blonde from the train all over again. That'd been fun until Branwen had shown up and chased her off.

No matter. She doubted that Branwen would interfere this time. She'd get this brat to Cinder within the hour. That would be something to rub in Mercury and Emerald's faces.

* * *

Gula grumbled to himself as he wandered Beacon's halls, searching for Ozpin. He'd tried asking a few students, but they'd all proved useless on that front. The teachers were all 'too busy to answer that' and he had no idea where Goodwitch was to ask. He knew she'd at least be accommodating. Or that guy he'd taken for a ride alongside Ozpin during his last visit. He'd cooperate in a heartbeat.

"I swear, it's like he's _trying to_ avoid me… Actually, that's probably what he's doing." Gula hissed as he turned a corner. Normally he'd fly straight back up to Ozpin's office, but he figured that the headmaster hadn't returned there yet. Besides, even if some of the students knew he could fly, not all of them did and he wanted to keep it that way.

"I swear, when I get my hands on…" Gula started when he noticed a familiar gray-haired man with a cane walk into one of the rooms.

"Ozpin, I swear if you run off on my again…!" Gula started in a raised voice as he rushed into the room, only to find it empty.

"Oh what, does he teleport now?" Gula muttered frustratedly as he stalked towards the center of the room. Suddenly, the door closed, and the lights went out. Gula blinked a few times as his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.

"Alright, whoever thought of this joke better come out right now before I tear this place apart. If you do, you have my word that I won't swap your face with your ass." He called out. He heard movement to his left. Quick movement too. Then he realized that movement was getting louder and approaching his head. Swiftly ducking, he caught sight of a brief streak of pink pass him by. A bludgeon of some kind, and a bit frilly looking. Not exactly intimidating. Using the path the bludgeon was following, Gula aimed a small ki blast in the pathway of the attacker, who shattered like glass the moment the blast hit. Quite literally in fact. Gula's eyes widened as he saw what looked like glass shards clatter to the ground before disappearing. He was caught off-guard long enough for something to impact the back of his knees, though he didn't even budge, instead swinging his arm around to backhand the attacker away. Unfortunately, they were already long gone. Gula grunted in frustration.

"You know, I was almost impressed you tried to pull this stunt to begin with, but the novelty's worn off." He growled aloud as he started trying to pin down his assailant. Then he heard the familiar sound of a frilly bludgeon hurtling towards his head and bent sideways to avoid it before whirling around with a roundhouse kick! Unfortunately, this just led to more broken glass. Now he was just getting pissed off. And he got more pissed off when he felt two more impacts on his right shoulder and ribs. Growling, Gula summoned a pair of ki spheres into his hands before he began to whirl around, launching blasts everywhere he could, trying to take out the attacker so he could just leave. By the end of it, the walls and floors were covered with blackened, smoking craters and Gula was huffing a bit from the exertion.

"Alright. Might have overdone it there after that stunt in the square." Gula muttered as he lowered his hands. There was silence for a moment before he heard a sharp whistling noise. Leaning sideways, he saw an incredibly thin and sharp strip of steel whiz past where his right side had just been moments before. This was immediately followed up by getting smacked in the back of the head with that damn bludgeon again, though Gula still barely reacted to it. Swinging his elbow back, all he got was another shattering of glass.

"I'm going to be here all day if this keeps up." Gula muttered. He doubted that the dead man attacking him could match his stamina, but he had better things to do than deal with this. Besides, the pointy thing they'd employed said that this wasn't just some prank. They were actively trying to skewer him, though they'd deliberately gone for a none-lethal strike. Whoever was doing this wanted him alive. He could use that to play for a bit of time, but he didn't want to drag this out. He needed to pin down whoever was attacking him so he could put and end to this and get on with his life.

After collecting himself, Gula closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was safe to assume that the glass trick involved some form of teleportation, or possibly something akin to Rapid Movement. He needed to force them to use that trick, then catch them when they reappeared. He had part one down. That's all he'd been doing for the last couple of minutes. The second part was going to be trickier.

All was still. Gula focused his attention into his senses of hearing and touch, waiting for a sign.

There was movement to his left. Quick and light-footed, but still there. It was moving around behind him… circling to the right… It was approaching, prepared to strike…

Gula snapped his right hand up away from his body, firing a ki blast. There was the sound of shattering glass. The movement was gone.

Then he heard something else. It was approaching fast… from above! Gula performed a back handspring before firing twin blasts from his palms, leading to the sound of more shattered glass. His eyes remained shut, though the lids were more relaxed now.

Movement on the right. The whistling sound of steel at high-speed. Gula dropped and performed a leg sweep. More broken glass.

This pattern repeated and Gula could feel something different. He realized that he'd stopped relying on his senses but could still detect the presence of his attacker. Their presence was strange though. It felt similar to his own energy, but it was just close enough to make the differences all the more apparent.

" _What is this…?"_ he wondered as he fired a blast behind him, leading to yet more broken glass. As the fight wore on, Gula realized that it wasn't just that one presence. He could feel more, many more in fact, all beyond this room.

" _Am I sensing energy? No, that's not it. It's like I'm getting two readings from one person… Maybe I'm sensing Aura…"_ Gula guessed before realizing exactly what this meant. After a few more strikes, he narrowed and refined this sense to just this room. He fired a blast to his right and heard yet more broken glass, but the moment he heard it, he realized that the energy had moved almost instantly to the other side of the room!

Gula's lips crept upwards in a confident smirk as he raised his hand and fired yet another blast. The moment the glass shattered and he felt the energy move, he snap-vanished right behind it and delivered a straight kick that sent his assailant hurtling across the room! There was no glass this time. He rocketed over and delivered two more punches that broke his opponent's Aura, just for good measure. And possibly cracked a few ribs.

Now that he had a good look at them, he was a bit surprised. His assailant was a short, rather petit woman with pink and chocolate brown hair, and heterochromatic eyes to match. Her weapons were obviously that flimsy looking strip of steel (he believed the proper term was estoc) and… an umbrella. Seriously. Having processed all that, Gula's gaze became a death glare. His former assailant shrank away as much as she could, considering she was pinned to the wall.

"You know, if this had been any other time, I'd spend a lot more time getting you to tell me why you thought this was a good idea or who sent you to do capture me, but to be perfectly honest I couldn't care less right now. So, I'm just going to leave you with this: tell your bosses that next time they send someone to try and capture me, I will be delivering back a corpse separated by body system if I'm feeling charitable. To clarify, that would be skeletal system, nervous system, et cetera. Do I make myself clear?" Gula growled. The woman's eyes widened before she vanished from his grip. Gula felt a momentary surge of anger but took a deep breath. He had other things to take care of. Namely, he had to find Ozpin and finish his little chat with him. Probably a good idea to let him know that someone had the audacity to try and attack him as well.

"One more thing added to his plate wouldn't hurt at this point." Gula reasoned as he blasted the lock on the door and strode out, ignoring the students that had jumped from the noise. And the smoke coming from the lock, that probably factored in too. He didn't care about the strange looks from the students, or the whispers. He had a headmaster to track down.

Fortunately, that didn't take much longer. He happened upon Goodwitch, who was have a discussion with another teacher and she swiftly pointed Gula in the right direction. After a couple more minutes, Gula finally tracked down the elusive headmaster, who himself was having a discussion with the General that Gula had met during his last visit. After _properly_ concluding the conversation and bringing Ironwood up to speed, he bade them farewell and stepped out of the academy. After finding somewhere secluded, Gula rocketed into the air and took a detour to avoid being spotted by anyone at Beacon. He had considered sticking around, since he'd probably would be facing a similar song and dance when he got home. Still, it was probably better to get it out of the way now rather than put it off.

And all that aside, he needed to practice with his new energy sensing ability. If he could get that down, then the PTO's advantage of scouters would be completely negated. At the moment, he couldn't differentiate between different signatures, plus he suspected that Aura was throwing it off. But if he could master it, this one small ability could change a lot.

Unfortunately, Gula's thoughts were interrupted when he saw the village coming into view. He could also see a number of people had noticed him coming. Considering he'd cast aside all subtlety, he knew he was in for it as soon as he landed.

"Well, time to face the music." He muttered, bracing himself as people began to swarm towards where he was landing.

" _Why can't I ever get two days of peace recently?"_ Gula thought to himself as the barrage of questions started. Something told Gula that he was going to be here until late at night.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, back at Beacon…_

Cinder had reviewed the footage from the hacked security cameras in the training room where Neo had attempted to capture the brat several times, and yet it was no less infuriating. Based on what she'd seen, Neo's Semblance had been the only reason she'd even _survived_ the encounter, considering all the hits she'd landed had done little more than irritate him. However, that wasn't the most disconcerting part of the fight. No, what was bothering her more was the fact that during the beginning of the fight, he'd been fighting largely blind, only able to counterattack after a successful dodge. However, as the fight had worn on, something changed. He knew not only where Neo was going to strike, but he also figured out where she was going to retreat to with her Semblance! Cinder refused to believe that he'd been faking it from the beginning. He'd somehow managed to adapt to Neo's fighting style over the course of a few _minutes._ Not only that, but he'd done it, quite literally with his _eyes closed_! That didn't just happen. Not only was this unknown incredibly powerful, but they had a talent for combat that Cinder had never witnessed before.

There had to be a reason for it all. That sort of power didn't just come from no where! What was the secret? Could this secret be learned or otherwise taken? She had to know. She was destined for unmatched power; to be feared by the world. But that _boy…_ his very existence stood in the way of that destiny by virtue of his sheer strength. If she could not take that power for herself, then by her mistress' name she would erase if from Remnant.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for today! Man, this one got done** _ **fast!**_ **Relatively speaking. It's been over two weeks since the last chapter for this story was published, so it's been longer for all of you.**

 **Creativity: And… just running the numbers here… Yep! This is the longest chapter we've ever written EVER!**

 **Author: Wait, seriously?! Gimme a sec… holy… IT IS! Wow, and this got done in record time too! Man, this is awesome!**

 **Probably not gonna do something in celebration of that, but hey, still really cool.**

 **So, before we sign off, a brief mini-update. This will sort of affect when things get updated, but it's more a 'me' thing. I'm going to be writing two chapters of my primary project before writing something else. This ensures that work on whatever my main project is continues at the forefront while ensuring that I don't get sick of it. Just figured I'd let you all know, since it will affect when other projects get updated.**

 **Alright, I think that covers everything! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, hope to see you in Discord, and I'll see ya next time!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello everyone! We're back and we're feeling awesome!**

 **Creativity: We've been waiting to get to this one for a while, and while we've been working hard on our other stuff, this particular chapter has been a long time coming.**

 **Author: Oh, indeed. However, before we get to that, here's a little progress update on our other stuff.**

 **So, we've currently got chapters 9 through 14 for Before: Kingdom Hearts completed, and we've published the third set of chapters for Venom: Resurgence (A reminder, those sets consist of five chapters) so we've been real busy since the last chapter.**

 **Creativity: Before: KH hurts my legs…**

 **Author: Like I said, quit complaining. Remember the chicken trick?**

 **Creativity: … You wouldn't…**

 **Author: Try me…**

 **Creativity: No more complaining from me, sir! I'll get back on the wheel, sir!**

 **Author: That's more like it.**

 **Now then, let's answer the chapter 18 reviews:**

 **Guest: Why thank you. Also, yes to the pool, followed by NO COMMENT!**

 **Loki's Tongue: Patience, youngling, patience… They'll get what's coming to them.**

 **Eugene D Flores: I'm not going anywhere near Frieza level for a while, let alone Perfect Cell. I haven't settled on how strong the Remnant humans are yet. Aura can't match for Ki** _ **yet,**_ **but with time it** _ **could**_ **. Lots of time. Like, hundreds, maybe thousands of years of intensive study and practice put into it. The second message I can't understand.**

 **Dorben: If you aren't familiar with Saiyans doing stupid things, then I don't know what to tell you. Besides, it's more fun to let the assassins run away after being scared absolutely shitless.**

 **SSJ2: As much as I'd love that, if I was going to approach someone about that, I would want to pay them. And I don't have the cash to do that right now.**

 **Avenger: You might have to wait a bit longer on that than you'd think, but I promise it's going to be worth the wait.**

 **VargasREborn: On the subject of the two powers mixing, that'll be addressed later. It's something I've put a LOT of thought into and I think I've gotten it down pretty well.**

 **Temsen: Interesting read on the situation. Not what I would've thought but that's a good take too.**

 **Bladewolfzic: See response to Avenger.**

 **Exiled: Soul Nomad: Thank you, and you're welcome!**

 **Author: Wow, that was more reviews than I was expecting. Thanks for those! Now then, here's the current Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Creativity: And with that out of the way…**

 **Author: We now present chapter 19 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

"Argh, this is impossible!"

"You won't get anywhere by trying to rush it. Calm down and look for your energy."

"Yeah, yeah, we all heard you the last six times."

Gula huffed and shook his head. He should have expected this, but somehow, he was still surprised.

After he'd returned to the village and been bombarded with questions from the villagers, he managed to get them to leave him alone, save the teenagers he'd been training before. He'd expected they'd stick around after everyone else left, and he suspected the reason why.

" _Can you teach us this?" Ingo asked. Gula eyed them carefully._

" _I could, but I held back on teaching you any of this for a reason. Chief among those reasons was the fact that some of you had the intention of leaving the village to train at a Hunter's academy." Gula replied carefully before Lila interrupted him._

" _Hold up, that doesn't make sense. Why would you not train us how to use this, what did you call it? Life energy? Whatever it's called, why not teach us how to use it if we're going to a Hunter's academy? Coupled with Aura, we'd be well ahead of the others!" Lila argued. Gula frowned._

" _It's because I don't know what happens when Ki, alternative name for life energy, and Aura are combined. They're two distinct powers and to my knowledge they've never mixed. I'm not exactly eager to find out what happens if they do." Gula finished explaining. The teens didn't seem convinced, but they didn't argue further. Gula stared at them all before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath._

" _I'm going to offer you a choice. If you want to learn how to harness Ki, then you forsake the chance to have your Aura unlocked and gain a Semblance along with it. That's your choice. Do you walk the path of Ki, or the path of Aura?" He asked them. There was silence and the shuffling of feet as the teens looked back and forth between each other and Gula._

" _Take some time to really think about this. I can't say for certain, but this choice could affect whether or not you can train at a Hunter's academy. Oh, and if you do decide to train with me, you should probably pay a visit to Verde and ask for a set of clothes for training." Gula told them before turning and walking back to the inn to collect his bag. After retrieving it, he strode out of town and flew back to his cave. If he was sticking around to train, he figured it would be a good idea to get himself at least moderately set up back home._

 _After he retrieved a small bundle of furs and blankets from his storehouse, he got his sleeping area set up as well as stored his belongings in a small nook near the back. After that was done, he went over to a small wood pile he kept in the cave and grabbed a few pieces of wood to get a fire going. Once lit, he took a moment to listen to the crackle of the flames before realizing he had a small problem. Namely, his more practical clothes were basically ruined. And his slightly more formal clothes were in dire need of a wash. And so was he, come to think of it._

" _Alright, lake first, visit to Verde second. Then lunch." Gula decided before flying out of the cave to the nearby lake and diving in to get cleaned off as best he could. After a few minutes of zipping about underwater and some spinning above water to dry off, he flew back to town and payed a visit to Verde, who was busy in the back of her shop when Gula arrived._

" _Oh, sorry. Just had a bunch of rush orders come in." Verde profusely apologized and explained once she noticed Gula was there. Gula just waved her down, having a pretty good idea of what had caused the sudden rush of orders._

" _I had a trying few days before I came back here, so I need a new set of fighting clothes. Actually, make that two sets. They'll probably end up going through a lot of wear and tear real quick." Gula requested, putting down several lien on the counter. Verde was a bit surprised but took the money and put it in the register._

" _Considering all the orders I've gotten today, it'll be a while before everything's ready. I'd give it a week, bare minimum." Verde replied as she started taking Gula's measurements for the new clothes. Gula smiled a bit._

" _That should be fine. I don't think we'll be getting to the point of needing those clothes for a while…" Gula replied._

And that brought him to today. He and his 'students' had begun training three days ago, and things had been going about as well as he'd predicted they would. The last three days had been spent teaching the teenagers how to draw out their life energy, but progress was slow-going. In between more conventional training to make sure they weren't slipping in strength or technique, they were meditating per Gula's instructions. He knew that this wouldn't be easy for them, at least relative to him. Saiyans were naturally adept at drawing out their power and Gula had been no different, regardless of his relative weakness to the rest of them.

In the meantime, while he waited for them to figure it out, he focused on developing his new energy sensing technique. They'd walked about ten minutes into the forest to a clearing so as to avoid interruptions and distractions, but despite this Gula was able to sense all of the energy signatures back in the village. He couldn't quite distinguish them yet, but he was able to figure out who was who based on his knowledge of the village layout.

So, he instead turned his attention to refining the sense to distinguish between individuals and restricted the sense to just this small clearing. As he sat in the clearing, arms crossed and eyes shut, he was starting to notice some distinction between the energy signatures. It was subtle, but definitely there. There was also another distinction between their energy and his own. Theirs' were more like an undisturbed pool. There was little to no movement and it was calm. His on the other hand, was more… well, the best word was 'active'. It moved and shifted like a current in an ocean or river.

Suddenly, one of the energy signatures began to fluctuate and shift. Gula's eyes snapped open in shock before he refocused his sense and singled out the energy signature. As it turned out, it belonged to Ingo, who had his face scrunched up in concentration. Gula watched with eagerness before seeing exactly what he was looking for. A small yellow spark that was shimmering in his hands, which were cupped in his lap.

"Ingo, keep hold and open your eyes." Gula instructed. Everyone else opened their eyes in curiosity before looking over at Ingo, eyes widening in surprise when they saw what was happening. Ingo's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"I've got it… I've got it!" He exclaimed as he watched the spark in his hand. Gula couldn't keep himself from grinning.

"Alright, keep working at it. Draw it out, manipulate it, keep working until you can do it at a finger snap." Gula instructed. Ingo nodded and got back to work. In the meantime, Gula turned his attention back to the others.

"Keep at it. You all are getting closer, I can tell that much." Gula encouraged before resuming his own training. Though it was a little bit distracted this time, since now that Ingo had taken his first steps toward Ki control, his energy was now fluctuating quite a bit due to the fact that he was now able to practice the 'manipulation' part of 'energy manipulation'. As mildly irritating as it was, Gula managed to tune that out and extended his sense's range outward to see if he could find something interesting; an endeavour that turned out to have been a rather wise choice, since he detected several 'cold spots' that he'd long since discovered were created by the presence of Grimm. These 'cold spots' were tentatively approaching them from several directions, which Gula found rather confusing. He'd gone on enough rampages through the local Grimm hordes that they'd all cleared out from the areas around his mountain home and the area around the village, so why were they creeping back now. Did they think he was gone and that this was an opportunity to roll in, clear out the village and roll out?

Well, that wouldn't do. Gula stood up and took an exasperated sigh before cracking his neck and knuckles before turning around to look into the forest.

"I need to deal with something. Keep trying to draw out your Ki. This won't take long." Gula told them before striding into the forest.

The students watched him confusedly as he vanished into the foliage, but they just shrugged and went back to their meditation. There were several more minutes of peaceful silence, in which a few of them were on the cusp of achieving their goal of drawing out their energy, but the peace was shattered when the screeching of Grimm started, followed by the explosions. That had several of them jumping and falling over before they realized what was going on. On the one hand, Grimm plus explosions was something that ingrained instincts and common sense told them to avoid. On the other though, the possibility of seeing Gula in action was incredibly tempting.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to decide, as within a few minutes, the screeches and explosions came to an end and Gula walked back into the clearing, looking incredibly satisfied with his handiwork.

"Maybe don't follow my example, but I find rampages to be incredibly cathartic." Gula quipped idly as he returned to where he'd been sitting before his rampage. After a moment of stunned silence, the students returned to their own spots and resumed their meditation. However, despite the brief enjoyment of demolishing a horde of Grimm, he was still mildly concerned about the fact they'd bothered to come this close. The only Grimm Gula could think of that _might_ give him trouble in a fight was Tark, and not only was he one of a kind, but he likely hadn't left his prison on Menagerie, and he'd more than demonstrated that superiority over them, as well as his ruthlessness. They made a point of avoiding places he frequented, an observation both he and the villagers made, even before said villagers learned of his power.

So why were they testing their luck now?

However, before Gula could think about this any further, his new sense detected two energies beginning to fluctuate! Immediately abandoning his train of thought, Gula focused his senses in and started tried to identify who it was that was about to break through. As it turned out, it was the twins who figured out. He'd initially figured they'd either be the first or the last to figure it out. They'd been the most committed to his training when it had initially started, no doubt because of their ambition to become Huntresses, which was why he'd made the guess he had. Either that drive would push them just as far down this path, or it would hold them back due to the possibility they couldn't go to a Hunter's academy due to choosing this power over Aura. Perhaps it was a bit of both, in the end.

Gula's eyes snapped open and he watched intently as he watched the energy began to take form in their hands. Violet's took the color of sky blue, while Lila's wound up being purple, strange as the sight seemed.

"Well done!" He congratulated them, prompting them to see the energy cupped in their hands.

"Like I told Ingo, keep working at drawing it out until you can do so with ease. At this rate, we'll be moving onto techniques!" Gula stated with a small grin on his face.

Ash and Garrow looked a little put out by the fact they hadn't figured it out yet, but Gula offered them some encouragement as best he could before he decided to call it for the day. They'd probably do some more practicing on their own time, and he had a feeling that Ash and Garrow were closer to figuring it out than they thought.

After making sure they all got back to the village safely, he spoke to the Hunters that had taken up residence in the town after he left to explore, specifically making note of the unusual pack of Grimm while explaining he'd taken care of it, but that it had come as close to the town as it had was cause for concern. Once that was all done, he left the village and flew back to his cave.

It had been nice these last few days. Nothing terribly apocalyptic had happened, he hadn't dealt with any threats to his life, and he'd gotten some catharsis from taking out a horde of Grimm. Then there was the teaching. He hadn't realized how much he'd enjoyed and missed teaching those five. Maybe if things cooled down enough, and he took care of some essentials (Learning to read and write), he could talk to Ozpin about teaching. Though, perhaps he'd be better off just starting his own small school and handpick students.

He could figure the details about that idea later if his interest held. For now, he had to think of a good lesson, considering how quickly they were progressing. They were taking to this faster than he'd initially anticipated, though he was wondering how surprised he should be. After all, he'd been a bit pessimistic in his initial estimate, but still…

As Gula touched down at his cave, he began thinking to himself about where to go with their training next, trying to decide between flight and energy blasts. On the one hand, flight was the least destructive of the two, but Gula didn't have the confidence that the teens would not show off that they could fly. On the other hand, energy blasts were more combat oriented, and fighting was a great way to get them to adapt to their new abilities. However, that still had similar problems to the flight thing.

"I really can't win in this situation…" Gula muttered as he set about preparing something to eat. Still, he had confidence he'd figure it out. It was just teaching adolescents how to fly and shoot explosive energy from their hands. How bad could it be?

* * *

 _Two weeks later, in orbit above Remnant…_

The PTO captain didn't know how he should feel about the current situation. On the one hand, it looked like a certainty that his monkey problem was about to be solved. On the other, he was possibly cashing out a huge favor to do it and he had no idea _how_ the problem was going to be solved. He'd prefer the kind where the thorn in his side was turned into a bloody smear on the ground, but it could easily shake out in another way.

"Sir, another ship has just appeared on our scanners. It doesn't register as part of the Planet Trader Organization." One of the remaining crew members told the bas, who frowned a bit.

"Sir, the ship is sending transmissions." Another crew member called out.

"Put it through." The captain ordered, not mincing words. A large screen descended on an arm from the ceiling before crackling to life, displaying an image of a tall woman with unruly black hair and steely black eyes. She had a pair of scars over her left eye and another on her right cheek, as well as one coming from the corner of her lip, looking almost fanglike in appearance. She was dressed in what appeared to be PTO armor at first glance, but while similar it had more than a few differences. There were no pauldrons for one, instead sporting two segments of armor on both sections of her arms. There were two flaps, similar to the normal pauldrons that gave the appearance of a skirt on the side, and the whole set was primarily black, with splotches of blue on the chest, flaps and shoulder armor.

"This had better be good. I put one hell of a paycheck on hold to come all this way." She stated in an irritated tone of voice. The bas captain did his best to hide his nervousness. Even if she technically owed him, he had no doubt she'd blow up the ship if she thought he was wasting her time. He had to get her on board with this or things would not end well.

"Then I'll try to keep it concise. We were sent by the PTO to investigate this world and then clear it for sale. I sent down two scouts and they found a higher than average power level for the planet and went to investigate it. As it turned out, that power level belonged to a Saiyan who proceeded to kill both of them." The bas explained. The woman straightened up a bit at the mention of a Saiyan.

"Well, that is interesting. Keep going." She all but ordered. As demeaning as it was, the bas had a sense of self-preservation and complied.

"We spent a few weeks trying to scan from orbit, but there was something interfering with the Planetary Scouter, so we had to resort to the usual method of scouting. When we tracked the Saiyan down again, we sent ten soldiers to dispose of him. However, during the battle the Saiyan's power level suddenly jumped to 12000 and he proceeded to wipe out what remained of the squadron with a single attack. We have multiple audio recordings of the squadron's last moments." The bas finished before retrieving the recordings and transmitting them to the woman's ship.

They all sounded like disorganized gibberish and explosions, at least until the end, when they heard a loud bellow of "STAR CANNON!" before the scouter transmissions were cut off. There was silence as the whole crew waited for a response. The woman was unreadable as she sat there. Finally, she looked at the captain.

"Remain in orbit. I'm going to do some investigating of my own and I don't want any, _and I mean any_ interruptions. Do I make myself clear?" She replied. The bas nodded. Wordlessly, the woman terminated communications and the bas relaxed in his chair.

Hopefully, this meant his problems in this Cold-forsaken world would be over now, and he'd soon be back to conquering. One could only hope…

* * *

 _Back on Remnant…_

"Come on, you can hit me harder than that!"

Gula smirked as his students all began charging Ki blasts in their hands. They were still using both hands to charge blasts, but they were getting there. Their charge time as well as attack speed had both improved over the last few days. Things were a bit more difficult when Gula decided to throw both flying and ranged offence at them in tandem, but they were taking to it quite well. If he had to guess at how far they'd come, he'd guess that each individual person could probably knock down a tree in about two punches.

All of Gula's students were dressed in virtually the same clothing, differentiated by color pallet. The outfits consisted of a shirt that ran down to the elbows, a sleeveless tunic over the shirt, baggy trousers that were tucked into boots, a cloth belt and a pair of fingerless gloves.

Ash's shirt, gloves, boots and belt were all black, while his tunic and pants were dark blue. Ingo had dark blue for his own shirts, boots, etcetera with sky blue for his tunic and pants. Garrow's color pallet was red and dark gray, Violet's was blue and dark purple and Lila's was an inverted pallet of Violet's.

"Alright, that's enough! Take a minute to recover before we move on to the next exercise!" Gula called out. The teens all enthusiastically dropped as they were already a few hours into the day's training. After letting them get a drink and rest for a few moments, Gula clapped a few times to get their attention.

"Alright, the next exercise is going to focus on air maneuverability in a combat situation. Everyone up in the air!" He called out. They all ascended into the air, just above the treeline. He'd moved them further from the village so as to not draw too much attention. Plus, flying made finding training spots way easier.

"Alright, what do we do now?" Ash called to Gula, who'd flown up much higher than them. The answer came in the form of a glowing red light that swiftly revealed itself to be a Ki blast that rocketed past Ash, just narrowly missing him.

"DODGE!" a shout came from on high before many blasts began to rain from the sky! The students yelped in fear and began to dart this way and that through the air, trying to avoid being struck from above. Meanwhile, Gula was howling with laughter as he watched them zip about below. To their credit, they hadn't been hit yet, but it was only a matter of time. He was considering making a competition out of it the next time he did so; a sort of 'last one standing' sort of game, but for now he was simply enjoying the moment.

Then suddenly Gula froze. The energy blasts ceased. A power level many times beyond his had just entered range of his energy sense and it was approaching fast. Gula immediately shot down to his students, who had initially seemed ready to really lay into him about his surprise lesson but were now very concerned about the fact that he seemed scared out of his mind.

"All of you, head back to the village now as fast as you can. Don't wait for me, and don't come after me." Gula immediately ordered them.

"Wait, what's going o…" Garrow started to ask when the wind suddenly picked up and the trees branches began to snap and creak. A decently sized craft rushed overhead and slowly began to set down. It didn't look like any ship that Gula was familiar with. PTO ships were all saucer shaped, whereas this one was wedge-shaped, with two large engines at the back.

"What the hell is that?! Some sort of new Atlas proto…" Violet began to ask before Gula cut her off.

"Listen to me! You all need to run back to the village now!" He all but shouted. Realizing just how serious he was, they slowly began to back away before dipping back below the treeline and flying back towards the village. Gula turned back to the ship and dropped to the ground before dropping into his fighting stance, crimson energy springing up around his body. As the ship set down, Gula snarled as he waited for the door to open. There was a hissing sound as a ramp began to slowly lower. Gula watched as someone strode confidently down the ramp and into view. It was a woman, standing about 5.8 in height. She had several scars on her face as well as a few others on her arms, indicating a long history of combat. Though, that was to be expected, all things considered. Which brought Gula to one hell of a revelation; The woman was a Saiyan.

If the hair, eyes and armor weren't already a dead giveaway, there was her brown monkey tail. It had obviously been wounded at some point. It was shorter than it should have been, indicating that the end had been cut off at some point in the past. The Saiyan appeared to be sizing him up for a moment before stepping forward.

"When I heard that someone on this backwater planet had used the Star Cannon, I don't know what I expected to find, but it certainly wasn't you." The Saiyan stated as she kept walking forward. Gula snarled and tensed, ready for the opening move.

"You know, when I heard about planet Vegeta, one thing that really bummed me out was the fact that I couldn't follow through on my promise to give you a matching scar." She continued, tapping a scar on the corner of her mouth. Suddenly, it all clicked and Gula was facing revelation number two.

"No… No, you can't be…" Gula stuttered as the Saiyan stopped.

"I could have said the same for you a couple of weeks ago, Gula. Though, I thought you'd look a fair bit older than this. So, why don't you tell me how my little brother wound up on a backwater planet like this? And also, how you're still alive." She continued. Gula didn't know how to react. Of all the people who could possibly have arrived here, it was Aspera. Of all the possibilities, it was _her._

"How are you still alive?" Gula growled, still very much ready for a fight. Aspera shrugged, much more relaxed than Gula was. And for good reason, considering Gula could tell that Aspera's power was well beyond his.

"Well, I guess I'm not in any rush. I was sent to South Galaxy to assist in a conquering before Frieza issued a full recall of all Saiyans to planet Vegeta, so I was off-world when Frieza blew planet Vegeta to hell. After that, I spent a decade working for the South Galaxy branch of the PTO before I managed to resign from the PTO." Aspera explained. Gula frowned.

"You expect me to believe that you managed to leave the PTO? You don't just leave the PTO." He growled. Aspera smirked.

"I struck a deal. I win the PTO an arbitrary number of planets within an arbitrary timeframe and I get to go free." She answered, that same smirk on her face before she continued.

"After that I became a bounty hunter, which just about gets us caught up to here. Now, I think you owe me an explanation of your own. And for crying out loud, would you relax? The noise is getting irritating." She finished. Gula grit his teeth but complied with her demand and returned to a more relaxed position, the crimson energy that roared around his body vanishing.

"About a week after you left on that conquering, father had me doing another _training session_ with Aikon while he was at the palace. It went about as well as all the other ones and I was just about unconscious when something happened. I'm not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew Aikon was on the other side of the room and unconscious. After that, father knocked me unconscious and I woke up after crash landing on Remnant. Been here for six years now." Gula explained, spitting out any mention of training, his father and Aikon as if it were poison. Aspera raised her eyebrows.

"Six years? Gula, it's been decades since planet Vegeta was destroyed. I'm in my fifties." She stated. That had Gula floored. Just how long had he been in that pod?! Aspera shook her head.

"It's been a hell of a few decades, too. Frieza's dead for one." Aspera started before Gula interrupted.

"Wait, Frieza's dead?! How is he dead?!" Gula exclaimed. Aspera frowned.

"I don't know the details, but rumor has it that he was killed by the legendary Super Saiyan. I don't know how much I believe that, but I also don't know how else he could have been killed. It certainly wasn't by King Cold, since he apparently was killed not too long afterwards." Aspera shared. What sort of upside down universe was Gula living in?!

"Well, whatever the case, that doesn't matter anymore. Go ahead and grab anything you want to bring along and then we can get out of here." She said before she turned to head back into her ship, though seemed a bit surprised that Gula wasn't moving.

"Excuse me?" Gula growled. Aspera looked back.

"Come on, I don't want to spend any more time on this rock than I have to. Besides, there's a couple of really high-value bounties out there right now we can grab on the way back to South Galaxy." She replied.

"What exactly makes you think I'm going anywhere, let alone anywhere with _you?_ " Gula asked in a vicious tone. Aspera seemed confused.

"Well, considering that the PTO has this planet slated for cleanup and how archaic this planet is, a sensible and intelligent organism would want to get out of here." She answered. Gula tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck as his muscles tensed once again for a fight.

"Well, I guess I'm not in that club. So, if you're so eager to leave this planet, then you're leaving on your own." He replied. Aspera sighed exasperatedly as she rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what I was expecting. Well, I guess this is an opportunity to give you that scar I owe you. I heard your record power level was 12000, which I gotta say is a level I didn't think you'd ever get to. Still doesn't come close to mine though." She stated before she took up a fighting stance of her own. It was similar to Gula's, but the arms were pulled a little tighter to her body and her hands were clenched into fists instead of open like Gula's. Blue energy sprang up around her body and she smirked, her tail flicking.

"Huh. You know what? I'm actually feeling a little nostalgic. Who knows? Maybe you'll last longer than a few minutes this time." Aspera mused. Gula took up his own stance as red energy erupted around him. The two Saiyans glared at each other before they shot towards the other with a bellow, colliding with an explosion of power! Bouncing back, Gula let out a roar as he powered up to his max and charged again for the fight of his life.

* * *

 **AND IT'S DONE! Finished this a bit quicker than I initially expected, and I'm SO HYPED FOR THE NEXT ONE!**

 **Creativity: Oh, man… I am in… incredible pain…**

 **Author: Oh, deal with it. Seriously, how are you not used to this by now?**

 **Anyway, yeah, Gula's gotta deal with an unwanted family visit, apparently Frieza's dead, and things are about to get WAY out of hand!**

 **Creativity: The chaos that will ensue…**

 **Author: Oh, yes…**

 **Well, I think that's about it from me! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please review, I hope to see you on Discord and I'll see you next time!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Oh man, is this chapter going to be a breath of fresh air!**

 **Creativity: WHY WILL YOU NOT TAKE MY LEGS?!**

 **Author: Oh god, he's still on that…**

 **Sorry about that, it'll make sense around chapter 16 of Before: KH (assuming you read it). To summarize, chapter 16 of my current primary project got REALLY out of hand and would have gone on way too long, so we cut it down and moved a bunch of it to chapter 17. So, this chapter is going to be used for decompressing after that madness.**

 **Also, I recently went and read through Limit Breaker again from top to bottom and I noticed a few spelling and grammar mistakes, so I'm going to put in a bit of time to find them again and fix them. Sidenote, if anyone finds more of them, please let me know. Hell, if you want to beta for me then send me a PM.**

 **Now then, before we go any further, let's respond to the reviews:**

 **Guest 1: Why thank you! I hope it was worth the wait!**

 **VargasREborn: Yup. And just wait until I can start properly mixing the two together.**

 **cbustroyer: I can't go into that** _ **quite**_ **yet, but I will get there eventually, don't you worry. It's a bit more of an endgame thing.**

 **Eugene: That's the wonderful thing about writing…** _ **ahem… (adopts Thanos voice)…**_ **Reality can be whatever I want…**

 **Guest 2: It's going to be flashy, I can tell you that.**

 **Avenger: It's a case of Capsicle, Electric Boogaloo (Lots of Marvel references in this AN)**

 **Guest: Well, I can't exactly go straight to Battle of Gods levels, can I? I'd feel kind of lazy if I did.**

 **Exiled Soul Nomad: Like I said via PM, I didn't say it was 50 years since Planet Vegeta got a bad case of explosions. Just that Gula's sister was in her fifties. Aside from that, no comment.**

 **Hawkeyestratos1996: Like I said in the Avenger review response, Capsicle, Electric Boogaloo.**

 **And that about covers everything! Now then…**

 **Last time, on Limit Breaker: Gula had begun training several village youths in the ways of energy manipulation, but training was interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious spacecraft. After sending his students to safety, Gula learned that the pilot of the mysterious spacecraft was not only another surviving Saiyan, but was his elder sister, Aspera. After revealing that several decades had passed since the destruction of Planet Vegeta, Aspera tried to leave Remnant with Gula in tow, but Gula refused. Now the two siblings prepare to square off in what is sure to be an epic battle… Who will emerge victorious?! Find out now on Limit Breaker!**

 **Creativity: After I plug the Discord server! Current password is:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: Right, that. Thanks for reminding me. Wait, are your…**

 **Creativity: CUT OFF MY LEGS! CUT THEM OFF!**

 **Author: Aaaaannnnd there it is! Well, while I go sort this out, I proudly present chapter 20 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

"GYAAAAHHH!"

Of all the fights that Gula had gotten into since he crash-landed on Remnant six years ago, this one was easily the hardest. Aspera had obviously not been resting on her laurels since they'd last seen each other. Gula could tell she wasn't using her full strength yet, since he had a feeling he'd have been demolished if she had. She was likely waiting for him to wear himself down so she could take her time bludgeoning him afterwards. It had been a common tactic of hers when their father had them train. Meanwhile, Gula was already using a good chunk of his power and he couldn't find a crack in her defence!

He'd just gone for a setup into Riot Session, but she wasn't shaken enough for the strike to go into the follow up, so he retreated as she went for a spin-kick. Seeing an opening, Gula rushed forward and unleashed a point-blank Comet Shot in between her shoulder blades that sent her hurtling towards the ground, though she stopped herself before impacting and spun around, energy flaring as she eyed him frustratedly. In the blink of an eye, she was above him, fists raised for a double hammer strike! Gula didn't have time to dodge, instead crossing his arms and creating a Corona Shield to mitigate the damage. It worked, but she still put enough force into the blow to send Gula careening to the ground much like he'd done to her. And on top of that, she'd managed to break through the Corona Shield in one hit!

Luckily, Gula managed to recover and land on his feet, the ground crack beneath him as he slammed his wrists together above him, energy gathering around his hands to obscure them in red light.

"Leonid Burst!" Gula shouted as the twelve homing blasts erupted from his hands and flew towards Aspera. Her eyes widened in surprise and she grinned as she saw the blasts converging on her. One by one, she either used counter blasts or knocked them aside with the back of her hand.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed with the techniques! I actually felt that first blast and that split shot? I might just steal that one!" She called out. Gula just growled as his red aura returned and he blasted up towards Aspera, twin spheres of red energy materializing in his hands. Aspera merely responded by extending her left hand forward and launching an energy wave at him that was large enough to swallow him entirely! Seeing the blast incoming, Gula snap-vanished out of the way, reappearing a fair distance behind Aspera before launching both blasts simultaneously! As they converged however, Aspera's head turned and Gula could see her eye looking back at him, not worried in the slightest. In fact, she looked amused! There was a brief flash of movement and Gula saw four energy blasts rocketing past Aspera before exploding. She was now facing Gula and had her right arm extended to the side. However, what really caught Gula's eye was the blue energy coming off her hand, taking the form of a blade. He'd heard of the technique before, but this looked a bit more stable than what he'd heard.

"Neat trick, huh? Learned it from a Brench in South Galaxy's PTO branch. With a bit of tinkering of course. My take on it is much more stable. Oh, and it's much better for killing and maiming too, that's important." Aspera gloated as she showed off the technique before she took up a new ready stance, this one having the blade arm pulled back and bent at the elbow to point the blade at Gula, the left hand making a bring-it-on gesture. Gula was now extremely cautious. Fists, feet, energy blasts and waves, those were one thing. Energy blades were another.

Realizing that Gula wasn't going to take the offensive, Aspera shot forward before going into a vicious series of spinning strikes, the blue energy blade whistling through the air as Gula narrowly avoided each strike before seeing an opening and lunging forward, energy gathering in his palm as he unleashed a Cygnus Crescent straight into Aspera's ribs! Aspera was halted, her face one of pain and shock, but Gula wasn't done. He immediately unleashing a series of Cygnus Crescents before kicking her into the center of the lingering purple energy before slamming his fists shut, causing the energy to detonate in spectacular manner! Gula floated back a fair distance and prepared himself for the next attack. Aspera was too powerful to be defeated by that attack alone. However, before the smoke cleared, Gula suddenly doubled over, a combination of blood and saliva erupting from his open mouth. Aspera's fist was buried in his torso, keeping him aloft as she floated just out of his field of view. The wind knocked out of him, Gula could hardly breath.

"That was uncalled for." Aspera told him, frustration evident in her voice before she spun around and drove her elbow into his pack and sent Gula careening into the ground. Before Gula could even register the pain, he was kicked in the ribs and sent flying through several tries before she zipped ahead of him and caught him by the back of his head.

"You didn't actually have any delusions about beating me, did you?" Aspera asked in a low tone of voice before tossing him into the air and starting to juggle him with energy blasts before letting him collapse to the ground.

"I'd say the notion is a joke, but I can't say I find it particularly funny. Actually, it's kind of sad, considering…" Aspera muttered as she bent down to look at Gula's prone form before grabbing him by the arm and slinging him through the air and tossing him back into the clearing. As she floated back into the clearing and stared at the prone form of a brother, she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, I guess you did last longer than when we were younger. Oh, wait! I forgot!" She continued before lifting him up again and tossed him in the air before delivering a hard punch to Gula's face that sent him crashing into yet another tree, now sporting a cut underneath his lip.

"There's that scar I owed you. Now, it's time to get going." Aspera concluded as she started walking towards Gula. However, she paused as Gula stirred and started rising to his feet before spitting out a large glob of bloody spit. Gula glared at her defiantly as he gritted his teeth and his chest heaving. Aspera rolled her eyes before crossing her arms.

"Your stubbornness is still intact at least. Alright, let's get this over with." She grumbled, waiting for him to make a move. However, he didn't. Instead he simply continued to glare as the wind in the clearing began to slowly pick up. Aspera frowned as her brother continued to glare at her.

"What, are you just going to stand there until I go away? You waiting for me to hit you again? You can just tell me if it's the latter. I'm not interested in wasting any more time." She called out to him. Gula didn't budge, instead just standing there, seemingly gathering himself. Aspera growled as she flared her energy before conjuring an energy blast in her hand.

"Come on, get it over with! I'm not going to wait longer for you to finally fall unconscious so I can drag your sorry carcass onto my ship and the PTO can finally clean this planet out for sale!" She shouted at Gula, who finally reacted, throwing back his head and letting out an earthshaking roar! His crimson aura returned and burst into a towering inferno around his body as his hair began to lift up and spike even more than the average Saiyan's. The ground cracked beneath Gula's feet as a shockwave of wind erupted around him, strong enough that Aspera raised her arms in front of her to shield herself. Having seemingly finished powering up, Gula lowered his head to once again glare at Aspera, his iris having turned from typical Saiyan onyx to a vivid electric blue. He gritted his teeth and growled at her before letting out another roar and charging forward, fist cocked back to strike! Aspera raised her arms to block, but the blow was much stronger than she anticipated, and she was sent hurtling backwards through the air!

"What?!" She exclaimed as she recovered, only to see a large red Ki orb hurtling towards her! Creating her energy blade, Aspera cut the blast in half vertically, the two halves passing her harmlessly. However, Gula was already on top of her, fist reared back! The blow sent her hurtling into the ground, creating a crater in the ground.

"How the hell did he…" Aspera muttered as she tried to push herself up, only for Gula to come rocketing out of nowhere and slamming his elbow into her chest. However, he didn't stop there. Instead, he started flying full speed, using his elbow to keep her pressed into the dirt! This resulted in a massive dugout left behind the combatants before Gula finally stopped and instead did a flip, delivering one hell of a kick that sent Aspera hurtling into the air! Gula let out a roar and rocketed after her. However, Aspera recovered midflight and let out a roar of her own, azure energy erupting from her body before she unleashed a hailstorm of energy blasts that Gula attempted to power through. However, enough of them hit that Aspera was able to rocket in and deliver two solid hits to the gut before grabbing Gula's face and dragging it down towards her rapidly approaching knee. The recoil sent Gula reeling, but he recovered in time to catch a punch from Aspera before throwing one of his own, which Aspera caught. The two switched to gripping hands as they shoved against one another, trying to drive the other off-balance. Gula and Aspera snarled at each other as their opposing energies crackled and snapped.

"What the hell is this?" Aspera growled at Gula, who merely snarled at her, the snarl slowly building to a roar. Aspera's eyes widened as she realized that his strength was growing in tandem with the roar and recognized that unless she did something quick, she was going to be overwhelmed.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, back in the village…_

If Gula's trainees had been afraid before the fighting started, now they were downright terrified. They'd seen the power being thrown around quite a distance from the village, but now things had been taken to several other levels. They could hear Gula's roaring (they couldn't think of a better word for it) and seen the towering inferno of crimson energy that climbed into the sky, and they could only wonder what was going on.

And all of that was before things _really_ got crazy. They could see two stars in the blue sky, one red and one blue that were constantly striking or launching smaller stars at each other. They'd known Gula was strong, having witnessed and felt some of that strength firsthand, but this… they didn't know something like this was even possible!

"Who is Gula fighting that he needs to use this much power?!" Garrow asked fearfully as they heard him bellow again before diving after his opponent.

"I'm more concerned about where all… _this_ came from. Why was he so scared by that ship?" Violet chimed in. Everyone was transfixed by the battle, even the other villagers. The spectacle was just too much to ignore.

Suddenly, the two stars clashed, and energies began to crash and crackle, being cast out in the form of electric arcs.

"Come on, Gula. You gotta win this…" Ingo muttered as the energies continue to clash chaotically. Ingo watched intently. Gula needed to when this. He just needed to.

Aspera hissed in frustration as she felt herself slowly getting pushed back by Gula. His strength was increasing by the second and with his grip so strong, she doubted she could even pull away if she tried! Gula's face was fixed in an animalistic snarl as he slowly gained ground on his elder sibling. She wasn't sure what was the root cause of that anger, but she knew that its target was her. In some ways, the reverse was true at the moment.

Thinking fast, Aspera headbutted Gula right in the chin before driving her knee into Gula's stomach! Gula doubled over in pain and Aspera raised her hands above head, energy gathering between her palms. Bringing her arms down in front of her to aim the blast at Gula, she let out a roar before the blue energy erupted from her grasp! Gula had just barely recovered from the headbutt and knee to the stomach in time to see the giant blue beam of pain heading straight for his face and was unable to even brace for impact as the energy wave struck him and sent him hurtling backwards! He cried out as the beam launched him through the sky, but he was unable to right himself until the beam ceased. However, Aspera was right on top of him with an energy sphere clutched in her palm that she slammed into his chest. The impact sent Gula flying backwards over the mountains with Aspera in hot pursuit.

However, Gula was ready this time. As she went for another strike, Gula spun out of the way of her strike and slammed his elbow into her spine! As Aspera started to fall, Gula let out a roar before rocketing after her, delivering blow after crushing blow until they reached the ground, whereupon Gula leapt into the air and raised his arm skyward, energy gathering in his hand before he closed it into a fist and rocketed back downwards with a deafening bellow! Aspera could see him coming and her eyes widened at the rapidly approaching source of pain and managed to detonate a blast under her side that launched her out of the way before Gula struck the ground.

The resulting shockwave sent her hurtling away, while a massive crater was formed around Gula, who began to frantically search for Aspera. Wincing as she got to her feet, she snarled. She was NOT going to be beaten by Gula. Not like this! Whatever the source of his newfound strength, she would not fall before it! She'd survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta! She'd survived in the PTO and gone on to earn her way out of it, something thought impossible! She'd made a name for herself as one of the greatest bounty hunters in South Galaxy! She'd come too far and become too much to lose it to her runt brother who'd apparently spent most of the last few decades asleep in a pod!

Aspera let out a bellow of her own as she powered up to her maximum. Gula had taken notice at this point and snarled before charging her. Having reached her peak, Aspera charged as well before slipping under Gula's guard and delivering a hard punch to his gut before delivering a ki-powered uppercut that sent Gula hurtling into the sky! Rocketing up after him, she rushed forward and began to deliver punch after punch that sent him hurtling through the sky!

"I!" (Punch).

"WILL!" (Punch).

"NOT!" (Punch).

"LOSE!" (Punch).

"TO! (Punch).

"YOU! (Punch).

Aspera finally delivered one last punch that sent Gula careening into the ground. She then unleashed a storm of energy blasts upon Gula before charging up the energy wave attack she'd used before, though the blast was much larger than before.

"SOL BLASTER!" She shouted before launching the blast at her brother. Gula slowly got to his feet and saw the energy blast coming his way. Eyes widening, he instinctively crossed his arms in front of him and used the Corona Shield.

Aspera continued to roar until she finally ceased the attack and took a few breaths to regain her strength. She frowned as she looked at the devastate landscape before her. She couldn't see Gula in all the smoke but considering how aggressive after his eyes turned blue and his hair spiked up like that, she imagined that if he was still, he would have gone after her at first opportunity.

"What a waste." She muttered before turning to head back to her ship. Only there was one problem.

"Jeez, how far out did this fight take us?!" She exclaimed. When they'd been fighting before, they'd been in a forest with mountains had been behind them. Now, the mountains were in the distance and they were near the ocean. In fact, she could see what looked like a large settlement in the distance.

"Must have gotten carried away…" She muttered before she noticed the smoke starting to swirl. She turned around to see red light trying desperately to escape from the obscuring cloud. Aspera's eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

"Oh, shi…" She started to say before being drowned out by Gula's latest roar. The smoke was instantly blown away as Gula's red energy climbed higher and higher into the air. He also appeared to have undergone another physical transformation, growing a minimum of three inches instantly as well become much more muscular. Aspera's eyes widened as Gula barrelled toward her before slamming into her with his shoulder and unleashing a massive blast from his left hand. She was sent hurtling away, but Gula rocketed afterwards, yelling bloody murder as he ferociously lobbed energy blasts at her. Aspera managed to recover and twist out of the way of the next volley of energy blasts, but Gula was already gearing up for something stronger. With a bellow of her own, Aspera began gathering energy above her as Gula did the same in front of his chest. Drawing his hand back, Gula let out a roar before launching a titanic energy wave at her! Aspera responded with her Sol Blaster and the two entered a beam struggle. Aspera couldn't understand it! Gula had never exhibited any signs he could have been anywhere close to this strong when they were children. What had happened? What had changed?!

Gula let out another roar before shoving his firing arm forward again, sending a stronger impulse of energy down the beam that caused his blast to begin overtaking Aspera's. Realizing what was happening, Aspera managed to retreat out of harms way before rushing in for a sneak attack. Unfortunately, the attempt didn't go quite as planned as Gula spun around and backhanded her through the air towards a beach. After crashing down on said beach, Aspera spat out a globule of blood before stumbling to her feet.

"I gotta stop him or he's gonna kill me…" Aspera realized aloud. She heard his bellowing approach and realized that it was do or die. If he landed another attack, that could be it. She looked up to see him rapidly approaching, fist cocked back to strike. She spat out another globule of blood before drawing her foot back and taking up a ready stance and waiting for him to get close. It would be risky, but if she could pull it off, she'd have this battle won. Just as Gula was within striking distance, Aspera darted forward and snuck under Gula's punch before whirling around and seizing him by the tail! Gula let out a yelp of surprise and pain before collapsing to the ground. Aspera grinned a bit manically as she tightened her grip before planting her foot on his back.

"I learned something funny when mine got damaged a while back. See, while mine might still hurt like hell if someone grabs it, I don't lose muscle control. Funny, isn't it?" She explained in an amicable tone of voice, despite the exhaustion evident in it. Gula merely groaned and whimpered a bit. His body shrank back to normal size and his hair fell back to normal. After using her foot to turn his face over, she could see that his eyes were back to normal, at least for the brief window in which they were open. The rest of the time, they were squeezed shut in pain.

"Yeah, really hurts, doesn't it? Don't worry. It won't be hurting for very long." She assured him before she removed his foot from his back and began to swing him around by his tail, slamming him into the ground, into rocks, into the ocean, until finally she spun him around a few times and threw him into a nearby rock. Gula slumped over, half unconscious and in no position to fight back. He was bruised, bloody, battered and beaten. His tail lay limp on the ground. He wasn't so much as twitching. Aspera walked slowly over to him and picked him up by his throat (as his shirt had been utterly destroyed) and held him up to her nose.

"We could have been off this rock and halfway to one of the biggest bounties in South Galaxy by this point." She told him before headbutting him. His head was limp on his shoulders.

"We'd not be halfway across this mudball and beaten half to death." She continued before punching him in the gut and throwing him down the beach.

"And most of all, you'd still be alive in the next few seconds!" She shouted at him before swiping her left hand to the side, forming an energy blade.

"Now get up! I want to cut you down while you're at least on your feet!" Aspera shouted at Gula. There were a few seconds of stillness before Gula twitched. His hands slowly curled into fists as he began to slowly, shakily rise to his feet. He was still slumped over and looked incredibly weak, but he was on his feet, fists clenched. His eyes slowly opened, and he glared at Aspera through his matted hair defiantly. Aspera grinned.

"At least I'll remember you having this much pride." She stated before she darted forward, arm poised to strike! Gula didn't break eye contact as she got closer. He continued to glare at her as the blade got closer and closer to his neck.

Suddenly, everything changed. Aspera went sailing past Gula and tumbled a bit, rolling through the sand before righting herself. Gula was in a different position now. He was leaning slightly to the left with his right arm thrown out behind him. Something else was different about him too. Dark blue lightning was periodically crackling around his body. He slowly straightened and looked down at his hands, flexing them a bit before turning around to look at Aspera. The anger, while reigned in, was still radiating from his eyes, which were still onyx in color. Additionally, there was a steeliness to them. It was sort of unnerving.

"Why can't you just stay down?!" Aspera shouted as she charged forward, this time going for a vertical slash. However, Gula just sidestepped the attack at speeds that made Aspera blink. She quickly transitioned into a horizontal swipe, but Gula dodged that one and lashed out with a punch to her ribs! She let out a cry of surprise and great pain. That particular part on her ribs had received one hell of a thrashing earlier and the precision strike to them hurt something fierce. She stumbled back as Gula stood there before suddenly zipping forward faster than she could see and delivering a straight hit to her got before spinning and elbowing her right in the nose! Aspera tumbled backwards before scrambling to her feet.

"What the hell is this…?" She muttered as she held a hand over her injured ribs. Gula didn't say a word. Instead, dragging a foot and fist back. The dark blue electricity crackled around his body as he waited. Aspera entered her own stance and snarled angrily. She wasn't going to lose now. Not when she was so close! She let out a roar before swiping her hands out to either side, creating to energy blades before leaping forward to strike. This would be her definitive strike!

* * *

 _Several minutes ago, in Beacon tower…_

Ozpin should have known the brief peace was too good to last. That wasn't to say there hadn't been frustrations during it. The Vale council giving security to Ironwood was one such issue, considering the tensions that would surely arise from that particular arrangement. Plus, there was Gula's little stunt up during the Breach. That hadn't helped.

Still, the two weeks of peace before the Vytal festival started were more than welcome. So, one could imagine that when Ozpin heard the bellows of wild animals, explosions and what sounded like claps of thunder in the distance, he almost immediately felt a major headache coming on. However, when he looked to see what was happening, he felt no headache. He felt only dread. What could only be Gula was currently locking in what could easily be one of the most vicious battles Ozpin had ever seen, and whoever he was fighting had made Gula very, _very_ angry. The fight had made its way well past Vale in a matter of seconds and it was unlikely that anyone noticed since it was still a fair distance from Beacon. However, it was getting disconcertingly close to the island of Patch, which had the headmaster very concerned.

Deciding that it would probably be a good idea to be on hand should the need arise, the headmaster began making his way towards the beach where Gula's opponent had crash landed. It was a simple enough matter with his magic, though he made certain to keep his distance. He didn't want to get wrapped up in this if he could avoid it.

He arrived just in time for the show as well it seemed, as he could see Gula rocketing down from the sky towards his opponent; a woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties and shared several physical features with Gula, namely their eye color, ridiculous manes of black hair (though the style was different) and their brown monkey tails, though hers looked to have been damaged some time ago.

The woman's face was deep in concentration as Gula got closer and closer to colliding with her with each passing moment. Then came the critical moment. The woman managed to dodge Gula's death charge and suddenly seized his tail! Ozpin watched as Gula immediately let out a cry of pain before going limp. He'd obviously undergone some form of physical transformation during the fight with this woman, but he was rapidly changing back. What's more, he wasn't moving at all. He just lay there in the sand as the woman muttered something to him before she began to brutally swing him around by his tail!

Ozpin was horrified by the display as Gula was used as his own bludgeon with his tail as the chain he was attached to, at least until the woman finally threw him against a rock and then marched over to him, before lifting him by the throat. Ozpin wasn't sure what he could do here. If he had been in his prime, maybe he could have helped. Now though, what could he do?

"We could have been off this rock and halfway to one of the biggest bounties in South Galaxy by this point." The woman said before headbutting Gula. Ozpin watched as Gula's head lolled about on his shoulders.

"We'd not be halfway across this mudball and beaten half to death." She continued before punching Gula in the stomach and throwing him down the beach.

"And most of all, you'd still be alive in the next few seconds!" She shouted before throwing her left hand out to the side. Much to Ozpin's surprised, a blade made of blue energy formed around the woman's hand, extending out about three feet.

"Now get up! I want to cut you down while you're at least on your feet!" the woman shouted at Gula. Ozpin could only watch as Gula slowly came to and began to claw his way to his feet, glaring defiantly at his assailant. As terrible as the scene was, Ozpin had to admire Gula's sheer force of will and determination as he rose to his feet and glared defiantly at the woman. The fight wasn't gone from him yet. And yet, Ozpin could see no way Gula could win this now. He could barely stand! Ozpin wanted to avert his eyes as the woman said one more line before charging, but he couldn't tear himself away from the scene.

And then something happened. Ozpin saw a blur of motion and suddenly the woman was tumbling across the sand while Gula was leaning slightly to the side with one arm outstretched behind him, dark blue electricity crackling around his body. Ozpin didn't know how, but Gula had somehow managed to move fast enough to dodge the attack and redirect the woman's momentum over him, sending her tumbling.

What happened next was a bit of a blur for Ozpin. The woman tried slashing him with the blade twice more, but Gula dodged out of the way before delivering several precision strikes to the woman before knocking her away. However, it all went too fast for Ozpin to properly track it in the moment, only decipher it in the brief pauses between movement. From there, the woman summoned two blades and leapt towards Gula, but Gula hardly reacted and Ozpin knew why.

The battle was already won.

Gula watched as Aspera descended towards him, blades poised to strike. Seeing his opening, Gula shot forward and delivered a straight kick to her stomach before spin-kicking her down the beach. As she skidded away, he cupped his hands in front of him, energy gathering into a dark blue sphere. Once she stopped moving, the sphere erupted from his hands and shot forward at blazing speed before striking Aspera in the stomach, where it exploded in spectacular fashion. He heard Aspera's yelp of surprise and pain when the blast struck her, but he was closing in, delivering a left hook to her injured ribs, a blow to a wound on her upper right arm, a series straight punches to her face, followed by a heavy windup in his right arm, energy gathering around it before he delivered a vicious uppercut that launched Aspera into the air. From there, Gula dove into a Riot Session, snap-vanishing around her as he delivered heavy blow after heavy blow before he finally delivered a blow that sent her crashing into the sand below. Cupping his hands at his side, dark blue energy began to gather in his palms once again before he wordlessly unleashing a Comet Shot that left her in a massive crater on the beach. She lay there, eyes wide, not twitching or moving. She was defeated.

Gula descended from the sky and landed on the ground, though he collapsed to one knee as soon as he touched down and felt a splitting headache instantly! It wasn't just his head either. The rest of his body either felt numb, or as if his very nerves were set aflame. He groaned as his head throbbed and pain wracked his body, but he powered through it. He wasn't quite done yet. He stumbled into the crater and glared at Aspera, who's eyes slowly tilted to look at him. No words were said. Gula slowly raised his hand, red energy beginning to collect in his palm.

"It's over… I win…" He growled. His voice sounded like he'd swallowed sandpaper.

"Gula, wait!"

Gula's eyes flicked up in surprise to the source of the voice. Approaching him was none other than Ozpin, who looked drained, but also had a look of conviction on his face.

"Why are you going to kill her? She's beaten. She can't hurt anyone now." Ozpin stated. Gula's gaze turned back to Aspera's glaring.

"If I leave her alive, she'll just come back stronger and try again. Besides, this has been almost two decades coming. Hell, apparently more than that according to her." Gula growled. Ozpin cocked his head.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"The only interaction I've ever had with her, or any of my family, was to get beaten to near death and then left in my room to recover so they could do it all again… For ten… Straight… Years… Now here we are…" Gula hissed. The energy in his hand thrummed. His desire to unleash it and put an end to this once and for all growing stronger by the second.

"So she's…" Ozpin started, only for Gula to cut him off.

"She's my sister, and she's just as guilty as the rest of them for the living hell my first ten years of life were. I may have been pissed with my dad for throwing my in a pod and launching me into space, but crash landing here was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. And then _she_ came here…" Gula growled. Ozpin shook his head.

"I can understand your desire for revenge. Some would even call you justified. But I implore you to not walk down this path. Killing her will not give you what you want. It will only leave a wound upon your soul that will never heal." Ozpin pleaded. Gula didn't look up from Aspera, who did seem afraid for her life, but not nearly as much as one would have expected.

"You just want me to let her go? Didn't you hear me?! She'll only get stronger from this and come back here again! She will _kill people_ if I let her go and those deaths will be on me. No, this ends here!" Gula shouted, though his voice was hoarse, and his exhaustion was starting to catch up with him.

"Gula, I know this choice I am asking you to make could have disastrous repercussions, and that you see this as the only way you can move forward, but I beg you to be better than this; better than her, if you really see her so poorly. I don't know what will happen should you spare her, but I do know that killing her will only inflict wounds on you." Ozpin begged. Gula continued to stare at Aspera. The moments became minutes and the minutes felt like hours until Gula finally let out a yell and unleashed the blast. Aspera shut her eyes and braced for the end but felt nothing. At least at first. Then she felt someone lifting her by the front of her armor. Her eyes cracked open to see Gula had partially wrenched her out of the crater.

"I should kill you. I should reduce your corpse to nothing and make sure you never threaten this world again. But I'm not going to do that because I realized something. I'd be letting you off easy if I did. For the rest of your life you will live knowing that after all the pain, the suffering and stripping of my pride that I beat you within an inch of your life. I want you to remember that forever. I want for the rest of your days for you to remember the weak, pathetic, miserable runt of a Saiyan that finally beat you." Gula snarled at her before throwing her back in the crater and limping out before he collapsed to his knees, coughing up blood before he collapsed unconscious. Ozpin hurried forward, checking Gula's pulse. It was faint, but it was still relatively steady. He needed medical attention as soon as possible.

However, as Ozpin moved to lift Gula up, he noticed the woman shakily getting to her feet. She coughed up a large globule of blood before falling on all fours. She looked up at Gula and gritted her teeth as she staggered to her feet before extending her hand. Ozpin immediately went for his cane but was surprised when a soft blue wave flowed from her hand to Gula's body. Ozpin could feel Gula's condition stabilizing, if only a little bit.

"That should buy you enough time to do something about… well, all that…" She muttered before coughing up another globule of blood and collapsing on all fours. She managed to shakily float her way over to a nearby rock and leaned against it, groaning a bit in soreness.

"Why would you help him? After all of that?" Ozpin asked. The woman didn't make any physical response, though that was probably because she was incapable of it at the moment.

"I haven't lost a fight in decades… then the first person to finally beat me is my own brother on this backwater world… He was right. I'll get stronger from this and come back to fight him. He'll get stronger from this too…" She replied before her eyes cracked open and her lips slowly curled into a smile.

"And I can't wait…" She finished. Ozpin didn't say anything. Instead, he made it a fair distance away from the battleground and called for his private Bullhead before informing Ironwood that he needed to set up the spare healing machine. He just hoped Gula's physiology would take to it.

* * *

 _A few anxious hours later, in the depths of Beacon academy…_

Ozpin with relief as Gula's breathing and heart rate finally stabilized. It had been a bit touch and go for a while, but it appeared that even on death's door, Gula's sheer will never failed to drag him out of a bad situation. Ozpin wiped his brow with a kerchief as he turned to look at his other 'patient', a girl with a light brown complexion and shoulder-length, straight brown hair. He hated seeing Amber like this, caught between life and death, but it was currently the only way of keeping the remainder of the Fall Maiden's power from seeking out its other half.

"Are you sure about this?"

Ozpin turned to see Ironwood approaching. He was watching Gula as he slowly recuperated in the machine.

"As sure as I can be. We already have one war to fight on this planet, James. We can't afford to expend resources fighting wars between planets." Ozpin replied.

"What about his opponent?" Ironwood asked. Ozpin frowned. He'd opted to leave out that it was Gula's sister that had left him in such a broken state.

"They were in no shape to start causing trouble. While alive, I expect that they won't be back for a long time." Ozpin answered.

"We're running out of time. You realize that, right?" Ironwood asked. Ozpin rubbed his brow.

"I know. We need to find a candidate soon, before she makes her move." Ozpin replied as he watched Gula twitch a bit in the healing machine. Hopefully his recovery would be swift. Ozpin had a feeling that they would need Gula's strength in the days to come.

* * *

 **And that's the end! I LITERALLY WROTE THIS IN ONE DAY! OVER SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS IN A SINGLE DAY!**

 **Creativity: And you did it without me running!**

 **Author: Guess that overtime REALLY paid off!**

 **Oh man, you guys cannot FATHOM how awesome this feels!**

 **Alright, enough backpatting, let's talk chapter!**

 **So, as awesome as I wanted the fight to be, I also wanted to make it uncomfortably brutal in a few parts of it. Especially the end, when Aspera's swinging Gula around by the tail.**

 **Creativity: Plus, we saw a full Wrathful transformation and a new one!**

 **Author: Right, let's explain that one!**

 **So, the transformation Gula used at the end of the fight is one that I came up with myself. No, it is not Ultra Instinct. In some ways, it's the opposite of Ultra Instinct as a matter of fact.**

 **The best way to think of it is that Gula's nervous system is like a computer. The transformation is him basically overclocking the computer, allowing him to break through the limits Whis mentioned about the time between the brain sending signals down through the nerves. As you can imagine, this has detrimental side effects, making it more akin to the Kaioken than Super Saiyan or the Wrathful form. The side effect should be obvious. He's pushing his brain and nerves WAY beyond what they're normally biologically capable of and thus he risks damaging his nerves and/or brain if he pushes it too hard.**

 **And before you say that the transformation doesn't make sense, I don't wanna hear it. These are franchises about mystical soul force fields, medieval weapons that are also guns, flying monkey men that can turn blonde, red head or blue headed, or giant monkeys, wish granting dragons and lots of screaming. This transformation is valid.**

 **Creativity: Wow, you're really expecting people to get in a huff about that.**

 **Author: I figured it would be better to err on the side of caution.**

 **Welp, I am REALLY tired, so Ima call it for the evening! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and see you next time!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Good day to you all, and welcome to chapter 21 of Limit Breaker! I've been thinking about this chapter a fair bit, and while I'm still not entirely positive on what form it's going to take, so this is one of few chapters where I'm properly winging it. Kind of exciting, actually.**

 **Creativity: Why not work on Resurgence if you're unsure of where to go next?**

 **Author: Eh, because I'm just not really feeling it right now. Don't get me wrong, once season one of Before: KH is done, I intend to crank out a few chapters for Resurgence. Right now though, not feeling it.**

 **Before we go any further, here's the review responses for chapter 20:**

 **Avenger: I'd put Gula somewhere above Nappa level at this point, and glad you enjoyed.**

 **Spiderboy2004: The information in your review was fair enough, but I'd adjust the tone you took in the future. First few reads of your review just had me rolling my eyes. At least in the latter half and especially with the explaining 'how Saiyans think and fight'. Again, good information, just the tone came off as a bit snobby.**

 **Hawkeyestratos: Thanks! I've been wanting to do that fight for a while.**

 **And that's the reviews handled! So, last we left off, Gula had done vicious battle with his elder sister, Aspera. It was a battle of epic proportions, of great spectacle, power, and (enough of all this), Gula REALLY got his shit kicked in! Despite ultimately emerging victorious, our Saiyan outcast was left near-dead and was placed in a spare healing unit beneath Beacon Academy. Meanwhile, Ozpin suspects the approach of something sinister, and knows that if he is to prevent the full power of the Fall Maiden from… well, falling into the wrong hands, he must do so with haste. What will happen next?**

 **Creativity: Find out after we provide the Discord password: R23A8zG**

 **Author: Alright, NOW then… We now proudly present chapter 21 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

The Vytal festival was meant to be an event that celebrated peace, of unity and cooperation between the four kingdoms. It was a time when the people of Remnant, no matter what kingdom they call home came together in the host kingdom for a tournament, a fair, old friends reunited, and new friends made. Those ties would hold the kingdoms together in future.

So, it was paradoxical those organizing the festival in the host kingdom tended to feel quite unpeaceful during the festival run-time. Even more so when that host was currently engaged in a shadow war with an immortal witch, an alien with nigh-godly powers and a mystic Maiden, both half-dead and in healing pods, and said host's basement, and the host was known as Professor Ozpin.

Naturally, all these many, many issues piling up were getting to be rather taxing on Ozpin's energy and patience. After reviewing what surveillance footage he could, he confirmed that the battle between Gula and his sister had started in Mistral's wilds, a fair distance away from a village that likely was the one Gula had mentioned living close to and had gone _all the way_ to the shores that separated Vale from the island of Patch.

He'd arranged for news to be brought to the village that Gula was in intensive care but was alive and expected to make a full recovery, which brought quite a bit of relief to said village. However, on that note, Ozpin was a little concerned about Gula's recovery time, which had either slowed to a crawl or wasn't going nearly as quickly as Ozpin had initially assumed. Gula was at least no longer in danger of bleeding out, internally or externally, and his vitals were all stable. However, it seemed whatever damage had been done to him was more severe than Ozpin initially thought (which was saying something), or Gula was in some sort of hibernation or coma. He at least wasn't in any danger of dying, unlike his neighbour, Amber.

Perhaps the greatest source of Ozpin's anxiety, Amber's current imprisonment in the limbo between life and death was heart wrenching to Ozpin and only made worse by the fact that regardless of his efforts to keep Amber from passing on were only a temporary ( _very temporary)_ holding measure. He needed to find someone to take up the mantle of the Fall Maiden. He had a few choices at the moment, with the top one being Pyrrha Nikos. Her battle prowess and sharp mind coupled with her caring nature made her easily the most ideal candidate. However, Ozpin was still hesitant about approaching a first-year student about taking Amber's post. Despite her obvious qualifications, the responsibility Ozpin was laying before her was tremendous and he wasn't sure she was ready for the sacrifices it would entail.

And then there was the Vytal festival. Oh Oum, the Vytal festival.

Ozpin had the distinct feeling that something wasn't quite right with the tournament so far, but he couldn't place it. Which was even more disconcerting. He'd long ago learned to at least pay consideration to gut feelings, and this one was something he knew he would do well to listen to. However, he couldn't pinpoint what was wrong, and that was something that had Ozpin very worried. It certainly didn't help that the council had ruled to have Ironwood oversee security for the Vytal festival. While on one hand, that should have meant one less thing for Ozpin to worry about, he still had a feeling that the council's choice would only end poorly in the long run. Even if it wasn't immediately obvious, tensions among the people were definitely on the rise ever since Ironwood's fleet had arrived, though their presence during the breach had certainly been a boon in the short term. However, that now had people wondering just how fortunate that Atlas had sent a small army to Vale _just_ in time to prevent a surprise invasion of Grimm.

While Ozpin knew that Atlas had nothing to do with the Breach, the timing was close enough that conspiracy theories could fester within the people and sounded plausible enough to grow even more widespread, which needless to say was not a good thing.

But coming back to the suspected foul play in the tournament, Ozpin suspected that the perpetrators of said foul play were the same individuals that had infiltrated the CCT and, according to Qrow, the same ones who had put Amber in the condition she was in. Assuming Qrow was correct, that put them on an even tighter schedule to find a new Fall Maiden and prevent Salem' agent from claiming the rest of that power for themselves.

As Ozpin sat in his office, mulling all of this over (and feeling a real bad headache coming on as a result), he heard a _ding_ from the elevator.

"Come in." Ozpin called out before Qrow stepped through out of the elevator, the door hissing shut behind him.

"Just went downstairs to check on wonder-kid and Amber, decided to look at some of the records of when you got him here. You weren't kidding when you said he got dragged through hell." Qrow muttered in greeting. Ozpin frowned as he recalled what little of the fight he'd seen.

"Quite literally, at least at the end. Hopefully he'll recover soon. I don't like keeping two superpowers like that in close proximity." Ozpin replied. Qrow scoffed a bit.

"It's not like whatever he can do is traceable through tech or… other means. If it were, you'd have figured it out by now." Qrow replied.

"Still, it doesn't do to have all your eggs in one basket, as it were." Ozpin responded before rubbing his temples. Ozpin wasn't so petty as to blame Qrow's arrival with his sudden uptake in headaches, but the timing was impeccable. Of course, there was the mess the scythe wielder had made in the front courtyard after he provoked Winter Schnee into attacking him, but that was straightened out relatively quickly and without Ozpin needing to get involved. Then there was Qrow's understandable frustration regarding being kept out of the loop, though that didn't make it any less grating when the man dropped thinly-veiled complaints mid-conversation, but again, that was understandable. What was more frustrating was Ironwood's continuous inability to understand the message his fleet was sending. Numerous times had Ozpin, Qrow or both tried to explain the problem to the General, but he just couldn't seem to get it. Or he was simply unwilling to understand it.

"On that note, we're running out of time. If you've picked your guardian, now's the time." Qrow stated. Ozpin pinched his brow. Qrow was blunt, but not exactly wrong, at least about their ever-dwindling time.

"Maidens choose themselves. I simply believe I've found the right candidate." Ozpin corrected. Qrow rolled his eyes a little but didn't speak.

"I'll be the first to admit that I had my reservations on what I would be asking of her, but in the end, I can think of no one better. She's strong, intelligent, caring… But most of all, she's ready." Ozpin declared. Qrow's reaction was a mixture of relief and concern, the latter obviously stemming from how Amber had ended up. However, they still needed a candidate and Ozpin had a good feeling about Pyrrha Nikos. However, it would probably be wise to consider a backup candidate on the unlikely chance that she refused the responsibility.

Still, it was better to make their move now, before Salem's agents made their own.

"Call Glynda and James. I'll summon Miss Nikos." Ozpin ordered Qrow, who simply nodded and pulled his Scroll out of his pocket. Meanwhile, Ozpin pressed a few buttons on his own Scroll that sent word to his chosen candidate to come to his office immediately before lacing his fingers together. He felt terrible, laying a choice like this at the feet of one of his students, but right now he had no other options. He just hoped she would be convinced.

* * *

…

What was happening…? Where was he…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Everything felt strange… slow… everything was dark… why was it so dark…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

There was someone nearby… they were sleeping… why were they sleeping…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Sleeping… sleep sounded nice… he was so tired…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Yes… sleep… sleep was better for now… maybe things would be clearer… when he woke up…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

* * *

Pyrrha felt incredibly uncomfortable as she stood in the elevator with Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, General Ironwood and a Huntsman named Qrow, who was apparently Ruby's uncle. The elevator had been descending for quite some time and she'd spent the majority of it hugging her own arms. What was all this about? One minute she was spending time with her team (especially appreciating the time with a certain blonde dummy), the next she got a message on her scroll from Professor Ozpin to come up to his office. Once there, Ozpin had asked her what her favorite fairy tale was. After listing a few of them off, Ozpin brought up the story of the four maidens and then told her that the story was actually true in its entirety, that magic was real, and that she was possibly the next candidate to be the Fall maiden. As if that hadn't been enough of a system shock, Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood arrived and then they'd all sandwiched into the elevator and begun the descent into the depths of Beacon Academy.

However, after what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the destination that Ozpin and the others had in mind and they all stepped out of the elevator into a massive corridor, dimly lit by pale green lamps. It looked like the hall of a king, or maybe a temple. However, the atmosphere made it feel more like a tomb to Pyrrha. The Professors, General and Qrow led the way forward with Pyrrha tailing behind, feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

"I'm sure you must have questions." Goodwitch stated, sympathy obvious in her voice. Pyrrha didn't think that quite cover it.

"Maybe one or two." Pyrrha responded in a shaky voice before continuing.

"I still don't understand. You said that I was the next to receive the Maiden's power. What did you mean by that?" Pyrrha asked. She just hoped her brain had recovered enough from the shock to make sense of all of this.

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years. But much like in nature, the seasons change." Goodwitch began as they continued down the dimly lit hallway.

"No to summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold onto the power forever." Goodwitch concluded, which obviously begged the next question.

"So, how does the power choose?" Pyrrha asked next. Qrow let out an irritated huff.

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." He growled.

"Qrow…" Goodwitch growled back at him.

"Hey, don't get mad 'cause I'm right." Qrow fired back. Somehow, Pyrrha got the impression that this was a default for the man, at least when he was kept away from both alcohol and his nieces. She'd heard plenty of gushing about the man from Ruby to indicate he was doing something right as an uncle, but the smell from him indicated at least one bad habit

"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more… intimate." Goodwitch started explaining.

"Intimate…?" Pyrrha asked nervously. Something about the pause made Pyrrha concerned.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts, is the first candidate to inherit her power." Goodwitch concluded.

"Unless it's a dude, or some old hag. Then the power goes to someone random, and our job get a whole lot harder." Qrow added. Pyrrha was even more confused now. Why did they believe she was next in line? Was the current Fall Maiden someone she knew? Were they dying?!

"Why tell me all of this now? Why not wait until I've graduated?" Pyrrha asked in an unsure tone.

"Honestly? We've run out of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high, the Grimm are growing stronger, more prevalent, and it's not gonna be much longer before this peace we've been enjoying goes out the window." Qrow told her in a frustratedly resigned tone.

"You're not…talking about war…" Pyrrha realized in shock.

"Not a war between nations." Ironwood stated, though she wasn't sure if that was supposed to be reassuring, or just a warning.

"We can fill you in on the details once we know you're with us. For now, all you need to know is one of the Maidens was attacked, and for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen." Qrow stated with some finality.

Any questions Pyrrha wanted to ask next were interrupted by the sounds of beeping and whirring at the end of the hallway. Looking ahead, she realized there was some sort of machinery set up at the end of the corridor. Two of the machines looked like giant silver coffins with glass windows to see inside. One of the coffins was propped up and currently had an occupant, much to Pyrrha's horror.

Inside the machine was a woman with dark brown hair, a light brown complexion and was dressed in a white tube top and skirt. Her face was heavily scarred, and she was obviously in great discomfort. Her erratic heartbeat could be heard echoing throughout the corridor.

"Is that…" Pyrrha started but couldn't bring herself to finish. Ozpin merely sighed as he shut his eyes in aversion.

"The current Fall Maiden; Amber." Ozpin stated in a low tone.

"She's… still alive…" Pyrrha murmured in shock and a touch of horror.

"For now." Ironwood corrected before continuing.

"We're using state-of-the-art Atlas technology to keep her stable, but there's a lot about this situation that's… unprecedented." The General informed her. However, as she kept looking around, she noticed a third machine off to the side that was also occupied. Slowly approaching it out of sheer morbid curiosity, she peered inside, and her heart leapt into her throat.

Within the pod was Gula, slumbering within. Now that she was closer to the machine, she could hear his own heartbeat. Much to her relief, it was strong and consistent. However, it still didn't change the fact that he was unconscious inside an Atlas medical machine.

"Why is he in there?!" She exclaimed as she recoiled in surprise. Ozpin frowned as he approached the capsule.

"As I'd guess you are aware of, young Gula has a tendency to attract unwanted attention. His incredible strength is a draw for individuals not even we know about who have astonishing power of their own, and they have not been friendly thus far. Gula regularly engages these individuals in battles to the death, and his most recent one was particularly vicious. We managed to retrieve him and placed him within the machine to heal, and while many of his injuries have been repaired, whatever damage he's sustained appears to have put him into a deep slumber." Ozpin explained grimly.

"That's another reason we needed to bring you in on this. Setting aside the fact that that we need wonder-kid to keep these new guys off our backs, the power he's packing is good at keeping anyone who would try to get at Amber at bay, or at least make them a lot more cautious. That little stunt he pulled during the Breach was a declaration that he was out there and could do what he does, intended as a declaration or not." Qrow added, though he sounded a bit bitter about it.

"However, the enemy will no doubt have taken notice of him after that little incident, as well as the fact that he's currently out of commission." The General continued, only for Pyrrha to come to the conclusion on her own.

"Which would make this the perfect time to make a move to come after her…" Pyrrha realized as she turned her gaze back to Amber.

"Which brings ups back to the big problem. We don't know what will happen if… _sigh…_ when she passes." Ironwood stated.

"Won't her power just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asked. It seemed like the obvious answer.

"Look who's been paying attention! She is smart." Qrow declared, adding that last part in a hushed tone.

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but this is a delicate situation. It's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker. And to make matters worse, no one's ever seen the power split like this before. For all we know, it will seek out its other half." Ironwood concluded.

"Her assailant…" Pyrrha murmured, the sound of Amber's erratic heartbeat heavy in her ears.

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin stated. Pyrrha slowly walked forward, morbidly drawn to the machine. It was all so much. The Maidens, this secret world and its war, whatever Gula was involved in, Amber and her assailant, it was all too much!

"If all of this is true, why keep it secret? If this girl is so important, if… if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?!" Pyrrha demanded, her voice steeped in the feelings of being overwhelmed.

"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge." Goodwitch revealed.

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha shot back, obviously wanting more than just that.

"How do you think legends and fairy tales get started? Even the craziest ones come from somewhere." Qrow lectured. Pyrrha had to agree that there was truth to that, even if it was still a bit lacking as far as she cared.

"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength." Goodwitch elaborated, distain obvious in her voice at the mention of the less than scrupulous individuals.

"And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't the kind of people you'd want to have unimaginable power." Qrow continued.

"And so this brotherhood chose to remain the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood followed up. Pyrrha was just glad she was actually getting somewhere in terms of understanding.

"the things we're telling you go against hundreds of history and religion." Glynda added before Ironwood jumped in again.

"No one would want to believe us. It would cause an uproar." Ironwood added.

"It would cause panic." Ozpin interjected before continuing. "And we all know what that would bring clawing to our kingdom's walls… Which is why…" Ozpin continued before Pyrrha interrupted him.

"I'll do it."

Pyrrha turned to face the four Hunters.

"If you believe this will help humanity, then I will become your Fall Maiden." Pyrrha declared solemnly. The four Hunters glanced back and forth between each other.

"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" She asked.

"It is, but I'm afraid it's not that simple." Ozpin assured her before launching into another explanation.

"Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

At Ozpin's word, Ironwood stepped forward, his expression a mixture of pride and… shame?

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint- how it works, what it's made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it." The General explained.

"Capture it and cram it into something else. Or, in your case…" Qrow added, his expression as though the words tasted foul on his tongue.

"That's…!" Pyrrha started before the General cut her off.

"Classified." The General declared, but Pyrrha would not be deterred.

"Wrong!" She exclaimed.

"The feeling is mutual…" Goodwitch began, her expression mimicking Qrow's.

"But desperate times call for desperate measures." She grudgingly concluded. The General seemed to take this as an invitation.

"And these are indeed desperate times. We can't transfer Amber's powers to you, but we _can_ give you what those powers are bound to." The General explained.

"Her Aura…" Pyrrha breathed with a hint of fear.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question is…" Ozpin continued, though he couldn't seem to bring himself to finish the sentence. Luckily (or unluckily) Qrow was there to do just that.

"What's that gonna do to you?" the drunk asked. The oppressive silence that followed could be cut with a machete, only broken by Amber's heartbeat.

"You have an important decision before you, miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work, and there's no telling you'll be the same person if it does. I advice you to take time to think on this matter, but understand that before the Vytal festival is over, we will need your answer." The Headmaster grimly stated as Pyrrha turned around to look at Amber once more.

"The assailant that attacked the Fall Maiden has made their first move, and there's no telling when their next move will be." Ozpin reminded her before they all made their way back to the elevator. However, Pyrrha still had one more question.

"What about Gula?" She asked.

"What about him?" Ozpin asked back.

"If he was awake, do you think he could do something about it?" Pyrrha asked. The Headmaster frowned.

"After I first learned of what I thought was the full extend of his abilities, I thought that might have been possible. However, he seemed cautious of mixing Aura and his own power. As morally gray, untried and untested as the method we seek to use is, I'd still call it a safer option than approaching Gula to try and mend Amber." Ozpin answered in a tired tone. Pyrrha could tell that Ozpin was just as opposed to this as she felt, but it was obvious that they had very minimal options right now.

At least one thing from all this made sense. Pyrrha did have a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

 _Ba-bump… Ba-bump…_

…Where was he…? Everything felt strange…

 _Ba-bump… Ba-bump…_

…He'd… fallen asleep… right? He'd felt so tired…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He still felt tired… And slow… It was all so hazy…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Why was he feeling like this…? He couldn't recall… could he?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He'd…gotten into a fight… he'd gotten hurt real bad…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Who had he been fighting…? Had he won…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Yes… he'd won… he could remember that…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He'd suddenly gotten stronger… faster…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Then everything started hurting… He'd ignored it though…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He tried to kill whoever he'd been fighting… someone stopped him…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Who had he been fighting…? Why was he stopped…? He… He knew them… right?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Yes… yes, he knew them… but how…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He knew them from… home…? He lived somewhere else for a while…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He came from a different… planet, right…? Planet Ve… Veg… Vegeta… That's right…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

The person he fought… They were from planet Vegeta too… They were…

 _Ba-bump ba-bump… ba bump ba-bump…_

It was his family… he had an older brother and…sister… Aspera!

 _Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump!_

She'd found him…! She'd… she lost… He beat her… she was long gone…

 _Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump… ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Maybe that was why he was so tired… Maybe he was finally able to rest…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

No…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He never could rest… He didn't want to rest…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He wanted to keep getting stronger… He wanted to go back to the village…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He wanted to wake up…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

But he couldn't… At least not yet…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump… babbabababab…_

What was that…? That wasn't his heart… was it…? It didn't feel like it…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Whose heart was that…? He had a way to find that out… right…? His thoughts felt so slow…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Senses… He could sense it… He just needed to sense the source…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He could sense it… Someone else was nearby… there was something wrong with them…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

They were… hurt… right…? Or were they sick…? Or… both…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

They felt… dark… cold… Where had he felt that before…

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He'd definitely felt it before… mostly when flying… What was it…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

Grimm… He was sensing Grimm… Why was he sensing Grimm…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump… thump thump thump thump thump!_

Footsteps…? Was someone close…? It sounded like they were running… What were they running for…?

 _Ba-bump… ba-bump…_

He could sense… something was wrong… above…? The cold sensation… There were Grimm… Lots of them!

 _Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP BA-BUMP!_

* * *

As Ozpin, Pyrrha and Jaune ran down the corridor towards Amber, there was a multitude of thoughts running through their heads. In Pyrrha's case, it was a deep sense of dread and foreboding, mixed with a sense of inevitability, with the last one regarding her decision to have Amber's aura interwoven with her own and the potential fallout from it.

In Jaune's, it was confusion and fear from both the catastrophe in progress happening above them, and the sense he was in way over his head due to the confusing stuff that was happening right in front of him. However he also felt resolve and trust in Pyrrha, whatever was going on. He knew that Pyrrha wouldn't leave the fight above unless it was for very good reason, and he trusted in her that she was doing something that would help them turn the tide against the Grimm.

Ozpin was currently immensely frustrated with himself for having not seen all of this coming. It should have been obvious! The way the matches involving Black and Sustrai's team apparently all had stress-sourced hallucinations on the opposing teams, the fact that Black was apparently shipped straight back to Haven instead of going to a Vale hospital was absurd, the obviously rigged matchups considering what happened to that poor Polendina girl, the breach of the CCT the preceded it all… It all made sense! And it should have made sense sooner!

However, all three of them stopped thinking about any of that the moment there was a small explosion ahead and something metal went flying across their field of vision. They all skidded to a halt as they looked ahead and saw someone slowly hauling themselves out of what looked like a metal coffin before they collapsed to all fours. They were shivering, and their breath was visible as they gasped for breath. However, they slowly recovered and slowly managed to draw themselves up on one knee, then got up on both feet. They were still hunched over a bit and looked as though they probably shouldn't be on their feet, but they were regardless. Jaune raised his shield as a precaution, but both Ozpin and Pyrrha hurried forward after they got over the shock. Following suit, Jaune realized that the person who'd just broken out of that machine was Gula, and he didn't look so good.

He'd obviously been kept at a cool temperature in that machine, given how cold he was and how pale his skin was. He wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes, though some of his shirt was tucked underneath his pants, based on the ripped fabric. Additionally, his eyes were half-lidded and looked unfocused. However, he seemed to be slowly coming to.

"Easy, young man! There's a process to removing people from these machines and by-passing it can have consequences." Ozpin admonished Gula as he rubbed his head.

"Something's wrong… I sense Grimm…" Gula started, only for Jaune to cut him off.

"Yeah, there's a massive invasion of Grimm on the surface! We're down here to do something about it!" Jaune exclaimed.

"No… I mean… I sense it from _them…"_ Gula said as he pointed towards the other machine. Pyrrha and Ozpin's eyes widened.

"Wait, you sense Grimm… from Amber?!" Pyrrha exclaimed as Ozpin looked at the machine at the Fall Maiden. Jaune looked back and forth in confusion at Pyrrha, Ozpin, Gula and Amber.

"How is that possible…?" Ozpin muttered as he looked at Amber with a frown on his face.

"Can we do something about…?" Pyrrha started before Ozpin cut her off.

"We don't have time. We need to…" He started to dissuade before Gula interrupted.

"I might… Might be able to do something… Sorry, I think I'm still waking up…" Gula offered before apologizing. Pyrrha immediately seized on what Gula had said, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"You can help her?!" She asked desperately. Gula shook his head, likely trying to shake the proverbial cobwebs free.

"Her life energy is waning while her Aura is holding steadily. Maybe if I give her some of my life energy, her body can fight off whatever that Grimm… infection, I guess? She might be strong enough to fight it off on her own." Gula explained, though he was still talking slower. Pyrrha spun around to look at Ozpin, her face looking pleading. Ozpin glanced back and forth between Amber, Pyrrha and Gula before sighing.

"Do what you can." Ozpin decided. Gula nodded and slowly raised his left hand to Amber's pod, a red stream of energy emerging from his hand that passed through the metal pod and engulfed Amber's body. There was a few moment of silence after the energy stream ended when Amber's eyes shot open, filled with brilliant orange light! She started to scream and convulse, twisting about inside the pod! Ozpin immediately slammed his hand down on a button near the machinery, causing the pod containing Amber to open. Immediately, he, Pyrrha and Jaune moved forward to restrain her so she didn't hurt herself. Suddenly, a sphere of energy burst out of her mouth and the glow in her eyes died down. She doubled over and started vomiting out a foul, black substance that sizzled and bubbled once it hit the ground before disappearing into thin air.

"What was that?!" Jaune asked, definitely confused by what had happened. Amber seemed to have finally finished cleansing herself of whatever that tar had been, since she was no longer heaving and seemed to be in far less discomfort. However, she still didn't appear to be in any shape to ask or answer questions.

"I'm not sure…" Ozpin muttered as he bent down to check on Amber. Suddenly, a whistling sound pierced the air before it stopped. Just a few inches away from Ozpin's neck was a glass arrow, which was now in the grasp of Gula, though it looked like that stunt had take more effort than it should have, given how hard Gula was breathing.

"I might have an inkling…" A smug, self-satisfied voice called out from the darkness. Out of the shadows stepped a tall woman with long black hair, fair skin, amber eyes and a red shoulderless minidress with a feather accessory at her hip, and glass heels. However, what was most eye-catching was the energy that framed her eyes.

"It seems that I didn't even need to killer to claim what was mine." The woman stated with a smirk playing at her lips.

"No…" Pyrrha murmured in horror.

"Jaune. Pyrrha. Take Gula and Amber and leave. I'll handle this personally." Ozpin ordered in a low tone of voice, his eyes not breaking contact with the woman.

"Professor…" Jaune started, only for Ozpin to cut him off.

"I allowed this… _all of this_ to happen. The responsibility to clean up this mess falls upon me." Ozpin stated, his tone leaving no room for discussion. The two students looked back and forth between their headmaster and the woman, who had conjured twin blades made of glass and was strutting towards them, her gait dripping with confidence.

"Understood, professor." Pyrrha bit out before slinging Amber over her shoulder in a fireman's lift while Jaune helped Gula to his feet. The whole time, Gula had been staring daggers at the woman, his tail flicking back and forth.

"Professor…" Jaune began as Ozpin readied himself for battle.

"Give her hell." Jaune finished as he and Pyrrha made their break for the elevator. Ozpin didn't break eye contact with the woman as she watched them rush past her. He could see she was tempted to try attacking them as they passed but knew that such an opening would be seized upon by Ozpin and she'd likely be dead. Instead she merely flourished her glass weapons and charged the headmaster. Ozpin shot forward to meet her in a battle to the death.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for today!**

 **Creativity: Oh man, the reactions to this are going to be maniacal…**

 **Author: Yes indeed, but I know what I'm doing. Even if I haven't explained it yet. And no, I am not going to explain it here. It'll be explained in the next chapter. Or the one after, depending on how long that one runs for.**

 **So yeah, Gula's back (sorta…) and Amber's alive, but gasp! Cinder still has the full Maiden powers! What will happen next?!**

 **Well, the answer to that will be a little while. I'm entering exam season, so writing's gonna have to run a little slower for a while. Plus I got the last two (hopefully) chapters to write for Before: Kingdom Hearts. Oh, by the way, I'm publishing for that again!**

 **Creativity: shill…**

 **Author: Can it.**

 **So, I think that's all from us for now! Thank you all for reading, please review, hope to see you in Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Well, it's certainly been a while since I uploaded for this story! In between handling other projects (the bulk of which was finishing off the last two chapters of Before: KH season 1) and midterms, I've been real busy. But here we are, and having taken… what was that number… One day over three weeks? Huh, no wonder people are getting antsy.**

 **Creativity: Yeah, no kidding. But, you'll all see what that means when the review responses come up. Which are coming right about now!**

 **Blckguy1nacape: Like I said, not ditching. However, chapters will get done, when they get done. If ever there is a time in future when I ditch a story, I'll try to leave a chapter detailing how I intended it to end.**

 **dmafia ruler: See above.**

 **razmire: Thanks. I didn't really consider the idea specifically for its originality. That was just a bonus. I wanted to pick something that worked for the story I was telling. You'll see why in future.**

 **Warpath356: It's not exactly out of left field, is it? I established last chapter that his entire nervous system was fried. Besides, having Gula just clean up the battle of Beacon would feel cheap and unfulfilling. No, stop, don't even start. It would be literary pringles; a brief moment of excitement when you take the bite, then it would be swallowed and never thought of again.**

 **Eugene DC Flores: The argument you're making rests on the power level argument, which I gave a value for and immediately regretted because power levels don't mean shit, and I'm not getting into it. I'm not 'wanking' the RWBY durability or whatever, and I certainly didn't do it out of laziness. This next bit extends outward to anyone who starts complaining about Gula not solving all of the Ruby plot problems you don't like, because I'm getting tired of people constantly talking down to me on it. Sorry if you feel put out, turned off or otherwise disrespected by this, but my story is not your killing floor for Cinder, or any other characters you don't like for whatever reason. I get why people might want it, but I'm still not going to just slaughter characters for the sole purpose of readers being able to get away with doing so by proxy. THAT would be true lazy writing.**

 **Creativity: You good?**

 **Author: Yeah, just had to get that out of my system. Seriously, I anticipated people would be on my ass about the decisions I made for the story, but either I underestimated how much I was going to be annoyed by those responses, or… no, there's only that. Back to responses.**

 **Guest: Patience will be rewarded.**

 **Avenger: Yeah, no kidding. I couldn't find a timeline for the Vytal festival arc, so I just had to go with it and ignore the time constraints. As for the latter end of your review, just wait and see…**

 **hawkeyestratos1996: I thought I established that a few chapters back. Maybe I missed it… Oh well, I can check that later. As for what I'll do with it, you'll see in future.**

 **And that's all of the review responses! Now, when we last left off, Beacon was under siege by the White Fang, the Grimm and a party unknown. Jaune, Pyrrha and Ozpin rushed to the Beacon vault to enact a desperate plan to transfer the powers of the fall maiden to Pyrrha, in the hopes of keeping them out of enemy hands. However, Gula awoke from his damage-induced coma, sluggish and unsteady, but awake enough to attempt to use his energy to heal Amber. However, the process didn't go as planned, and while Amber seemingly recovered, the full power of the fall maiden now rests in the hands of a mysterious assailant. As Jaune and Pyrrha flee the vault with Amber and Gula in tow, Ozpin stays behind to battle the assailant to the end. What will be the fate of Beacon, and our heroes? Find out next, on Limit Breaker!**

 **Creativity: But first, Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: And now, without further ado…** _ **ahem…**_ **I now proudly present chapter 22 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

There were many distinct reactions on the faces of those who were in the elevator that was ascending further and further away from the vault beneath Beacon. Well, for those who were conscious, anyway. Pyrrha's face was aghast at how everything was falling apart around her. She'd gone into that vault with the intent of foiling the purpose of this attack; to have Amber's Aura bound to her own and keep the powers bound to that aura from falling into the hands of the woman who Ozpin was currently engaged in a fight to the death with below their very feet. Instead, the possibility of saving the girl's life with Gula's strange abilities had proved too temping and as a consequence, Amber's powers had seemingly abandoned their old host for a new one, one who would put them to terrible use. She couldn't help but feel responsible for that. Even if she was glad that Amber was still alive, she'd pleaded with Ozpin to try the route Gula offered because it would keep the Maiden abilities out of evil hands _and_ mean she didn't have to have another Aura bound to hers. And here they were, with Amber still alive, but the Maiden powers gone. And as far as she was concerned, it was her fault.

Jaune's face was one of resolve. He didn't know what was happening with all this, but he was smart enough to at least know that something had gone very wrong in the vault and Ozpin had stayed behind to cover their escape to make up for some mistake. With all of the craziness that was happening, Jaune had elected to focus on the stuff he did understand. Ozpin's last order to them was to get this girl, Amber, and Gula to safety, so that's what he and Pyrrha would do.

Gula's expression was one of discomfort and frustration. The discomfort was obvious. He was stiff, he was cold (a fact not helped by the fact that he had no shirt, no shoes and his pants were ripped), and he felt like both his brain and blood were slow as molasses. That last one was a source of particular frustration, even as his mind was slowly bringing itself up to speed. He'd only been able to catch that arrow because he heard the bowstring and managed to push his energy to supercharge his body just long enough to catch the arrow and toss it away. It had been too close, and it shouldn't have been at all. His limbs felt like they had weights of several tons wrapped around them with how difficult they were to move. If he hadn't been aware of the fact that they were in an elevator, and was confident enough in his muscle control, he'd have probably punched the wall in anger by now.

Soon enough, the elevator reached the ground floor and they hurried out, with Pyrrha still carrying Amber in a fireman's lift while Jaune kept supporting Gula as they made their way out into the main hallway of beacon. They had been steeling themselves for a fight when the door opened, with Jaune reluctantly having to drop his support of Gula to ready his shield. However, nothing prepared them for what they were about to see.

It was a warzone. The dead bodies of defeated Grimm decayed all about the hallway, the bodies of students and Atlas soldiers scattered about in various states of mangled due to claw, tooth or simple bludgeoning force. Despite this though, there weren't any Grimm to be concerned about. They either all outside now, or they'd all been killed. Jaune slung Gula's arm over his shoulder and continued helping the unsteady teen out of the school. Luckily, it appeared that the courtyard was relatively clear for now.

"Hey! You there!"

Jaune and Pyrrha spun around, weapons at the ready. However, it was only a trio of Atlas soldiers who were rushing towards them.

"There's a safe zone on the other side of the tower! Come on, we need to move before more Grimm show up!" One of them informed them. Pyrrha looked at Amber, Gula and Jaune and frowned before they heard a rumbling noise that turned into a roar before regressing back to a rumbling. She could hazard a guess as to what it was.

"Take these two to the safe zone. We're going back inside to look for more survivors." Pyrrha told the soldiers. They seemed skeptical but decided that it was more important to get the wounded to the safe zone and that these two could probably handle themselves. After picking up Amber and getting Gula over their shoulders, they set off back to the safe zone. Once they were out of earshot, Jaune finally spoke up.

"That was her, wasn't it… Ozpin lost." Jaune murmured in shock and horror. Pyrrha was similarly horrified, but it was tempered by resolve.

"You need to leave. Go to the safe zone, get to Vale and all for help." She told him in a tempered voice, though one could still hear that she was trying desperately to hold it together.

"What do you mean? What are you gonna do?!" Jaune asked before he saw where Pyrrha was looking and put the pieces together.

"Oh, no, no no no, Pyrrha that is crazy!" Jaune started.

"She needs to be stopped." Pyrrha stated in that same tempered voice.

"Pyrrha, she just beat Ozpin. You know more than I do, and even I know that she is way out of your depth! Going up there is suicide!" Jaune shouted at her desperately, only for Pyrrha to silence him with a full on kiss. There was a long moment of surprise as Jaune realized what was happening slowly embraced Pyrrha. For a moment more, it felt like everything stopped until Pyrrha eventually broke contact.

"I'm sorry…" She murmured, sounding close to tears before Jaune suddenly went flying backwards into a nearby rocket locker. Pyrrha hated what she was doing, but she needed to get Jaune to safety. Then, she needed to take down the false Maiden.

* * *

Gula groaned and blinked as he was half-dragged across Beacon's courtyard. He could feel himself becoming more and more alert with each passing moment, but it wasn't enough. It was just making him more conscious of the fact that his limbs were still not nearly as responsive as they should have been. He at least could rely on his new energy sensing ability, which was largely unhampered by whatever fog was clinging to his nerves. He could sense Jaune and Pyrrha behind him, getting further away as he was dragged towards the supposed 'safe zone'. Shortly after he started getting dragged off, he sensed another signature coming from deep underground, rising rapidly before shooting past them and ascending up the tower. He hadn't been paying much attention to underground since the closer they got to the surface, the more battle activity started to dominate that sense. It wasn't until that signature shot by that he realized Ozpin's signature had vanished, Aura and all. That wasn't good.

And then, he sensed Jaune's signature fly back a ways before a few more moments passed and suddenly the signature was hurtling through the air at great speed. Looking back, he could see something powered by jets rocketing through the air towards Vale.

"That's not good either…" Gula muttered before his eyes widened. He could sense a group of 'cold spots' moving towards them with good speed, and cold spots meant Grimm.

"Grimm to the left!" Gula managed to yell before the creatures in question leapt from the bushes. It was a pack of Beowulfs, six in total. The Atlesian soldiers let out a cry as they turned their weapons on the monsters, leaving Gula unsupported. That was fine though. He'd recovered enough to stand strong enough on his own two feet. Seeing the soldiers rapidly retreating as they shot at the Grimm, who didn't seem that affected by the firearms, Gula decided he'd had enough and lunged forward with two steps and swung his fist hard. It wasn't a very fast punch, but the power behind it was nothing to scoff at, as the Grimm in the path of the fist was sent hurtling backwards, into a tree and then through it! As well as three other trees behind the first one. There was a pause as the Atlesians processed what had just happened, as well as the Grimm locking their focus onto Gula, whose chest was heaving. It wasn't all from exertion either. In fact, the exertion was only a small part of why he was breathing so hard. What the Atlesians and the Grimm were bearing witness to was Gula's frustration finally hitting the boiling point. He didn't care how unresponsive his limbs were. He didn't care if he was still recovering from whatever machine Ozpin had dumped him in. It was his body, his mind, his energy, and by his monkey tailed backside, IT WOULD OBEY HIM!

With a wild bellow, Gula launched himself forward and threw a wild haymaker at the nearest Grimm, sending it careening across the courtyard and creating a massive dugout when it finally hit the ground, its smoking and decaying body a clear indicator of lethality.

By this point, more Beowulfs had arrived, but Gula didn't care. He may not have been as fast, but that didn't matter. He was a tank; smashing, trampling over and steamrolling through the Grimm while roaring like a wild animal. The few nicks and slashes he gained, courtesy of the Beowulfs' claws were largely ignored, though it was probably due to the fact that the pain was much more subdued than it otherwise would have been; a consequence of his nerves having not quite finished waking up. Not that the wounds really mattered. Despite the bleeding, they were mere flesh wounds. In truth, it only succeeded in painting Gula as unstoppable and savage, as if no battle damage could stop him. Once Gula had run out of Grimm to rend asunder with his bare hands, he paused as he kept huffing and puffing before he heard a terrible screech above him. Considering the day he'd had, consisting of only a few minutes, this was a contender for cake taker. Perched atop the tower was a massive Grimm dragon that was making a real ruckus and seemed to be attracting and or spawning more Grimm.

And then the jets of fire started. Gula scowled angrily. He could hazard a guess as to what the source of that fire was and he could sense Pyrrha's signature up there as well, as well as _that_ other signature.

With an angry roar, Gula began doing his best to power up. A transparent aura erupted from his body as he roared, his voice echoing across the courtyard before he jumped into the air, reaching about twenty feet where he floated for a few seconds before dropping to the ground.

"Come on, work! This is MY power!" Gula shouted before the aura erupted from him again as he roared once more. This time, he leapt into the air with such force that the ground beneath him cracked violently and he really did continue into the air, flying towards the tower and the dragon Grimm.

However, his progress was swiftly impeded by a group of flying Grimm that had flown out from somewhere in the shadow of the dragon Grimm's wings.

"Out of my way!" Gula roared as he reared back his fist and punched his way straight through the first one before swinging his leg around to punt another one into its kin! However, despite the power behind his blows, more and more of the flying Grimm appeared, beginning to overwhelm him. They crowded him, biting and scratching at him and beginning to drag him back down to the ground.

"I said OUT OF MY WAY!" Gula bellowed before the aura around his body shifted from its transparent silver to red and he let out a tremendous roar as a pulse of energy erupted from his body, destroying all of the Grimm that had swarmed him. Left floating alone in the air, Gula slumped over and ran a hand over his forehead as he tried to fight off the sudden wave of vertigo he felt. It passed and he shook his head. That might have been overdoing it a bit, but he'd recovered well enough. He could handle this. Finishing his ascent up the tower, he realized that the situation was more dire than he'd anticipated. Pyrrha was wounded bad and the woman in the red dress had an arrow aimed at her throat. As Gula shot forward, there was the _twang_ of a bowstring, and the world stood still.

* * *

As Pyrrha looked into the eyes of the one who had stolen the Fall Maiden's power, she couldn't believe that after all of this, despite everyone's efforts, this sadistic, evil person was going to be victorious. After all she had done; staging Yang's 'breakdown', tricking her into murdering Penny, breaching Vale's walls and allowing Grimm into the city, resulting in the deaths of Oum knows how many people, she got to _win._ All Pyrrha could do was look defiantly into the eyes of her soon-to-be killer, who had an arrow levelled at her throat, monologuing about the Maiden's power. If this was to be her end, she had only one question.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked. The woman, who had been incredibly smug before, suddenly narrowed her eyes and frowned.

"Yes." She answered simply before preparing to loose the arrow. However, there was a sudden rush of air and the woman was suddenly on the far side of Ozpin's ruined office, the dragon Grimm suddenly snarling and shifting in confusion. Then she realized that there was someone else standing over her. She was looking at their left side, though they were turned away from her. She could see their right hand extended out to the side and also see a glass arrow embedded in the ceiling of the office. The missing shirt, wild mane of hair and monkey tail were a dead giveaway.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you up here, given the sorry state you were in down in the vault. I have to say, I was disappointed when I saw you like that. All the buildup after that incredible display in Vale, and not only are you just some boy, but you looked ready to collapse when I got what was rightfully mine. I suppose I should thank you for that, though." The woman drawled. Pyrrha didn't need to see Gula's face to know that he was unbelievably pissed off.

"However, I know someone who seems to have taken an interest in you, and since you're so run down, I don't think I'll find a better opportunity to deliver you to them. They'd prefer you in one piece, but I don't think they'll mind if you're a bit scuffed. Worst comes to worst, there's always dissection." She continued as she began readying another arrow. However, Gula didn't give her a chance as he rushed forward and swung his fist downward! The woman managed to dodge out of the way, but she only just made it, and her wide eyes at the massive crack Gula had made in the ground definitely indicated she hadn't been expecting that much force. Gula didn't let up. He spun and leapt again, this time going for a kick. However, the woman dodged yet again and loosed the arrow. Gula ducked under it and dug his hand under a large chunk of broken concrete before effortlessly hurling it at the woman, who shot a fireball from her palm that blew it to pieces. However, Gula came hurtling through the fire and delivered an open handed strike to the woman's chest, sending her hurtling back into the dragon, who roared loudly in surprise and anger. The woman snarled angrily before unleashing a storm of fire bolts from her hands, but Gula grabbed a large section of concrete and used it as a temporary shield before hurling it at her! This time, the woman leapt out of the way and nocked three arrows, firing them simultaneously at Gula. He managed to dodge and block two of them, but the third one struck his shoulder!

However, this did little to deter him as he yanked the arrow from his shoulder and hurled it back at the woman. It spun end over end as it just about hit her square in the eyes, but the woman batted it away with her glass bow before throwing another fireball at Gula, who leapt over it and threw his hand out, launching a ball of red energy from his hand, about the size of a softball. The woman dodged, but the blast still stuck the dragon, which was shaken loose from its perch, causing it to let out a panicked roar before it reoriented itself and found a new grip. However, it seemed that Gula was pushing himself a bit to far, since when he landed from that jump, he was down on one knee, with his left arm also being used for support. He was drawing heavy breaths and he looked a bit unsteady. The woman seemed to have noticed this and was currently nocking yet another arrow.

"I'll give you the honor of me admitting that you've surprised me. You looked dead on your feet when I saw you only ten or so minutes ago, and in that time you've managed to recover enough to match me step for step, but I think we both know you can't keep this up. Despite all your power, you're still only mortal." The woman sneered.

"So are you."

The woman paused as she stared at Gula, her expression turning to a frown.

"Excuse me?" She snarled.

"I can feel it. You're Aura's been pushed to its limits. You're practically running on only those weird powers you stole from that girl in the basement. All I need is one good hit and a broken Aura will be the least of your worries." Gula muttered, his face obscured by his mane of hair. Pyrrha watched with a mixture of awe and worry as Gula slowly stood up. His left arm was limp in front of him, but she could see his fingers clenching into a fist. He drew his right hand up before holding it at his side, bent at the elbow. Red energy began to collect in his palm, this time the size of a walnut. However, Pyrrha could feel that the power within that sphere was well beyond that blast he'd used earlier that had knocked the dragon loose from Beacon tower.

"The question isn't whether or not you knock me out. It's if you can last long enough for me to drop before I get that one hit in." Gula continued as the sphere began to glow brighter, like a crimson star clutched in his palm. The woman snarled at him as she drew the bowstring back but didn't move to aim.

"But if I hit you with this, it will destroy you. Doesn't matter how much Aura you have or what those weird powers do for you, there'll be bits of you staining this office, and that's all that will be left to bury. So, what do you do? Do you try and take me down while I'm charging the attack, or do you try to dodge it and counterattack?" Gula continued.

"You can't bluff your way out of this." The woman snarled, though Pyrrha could tell that she didn't think it was a bluff, and Gula could too.

"Your move." Gula growled. The woman glared at Gula before raising her bow slowly to aim at him. Then that smug smile returned, and she jerked her bow to the right, aimed squarely at Pyrrha's heart, and fired.

Everything slowed down. Pyrrha could see Gula had realized what was happening and was now flying towards her, energy blast still in hand. Before she knew it, Gula was in front of her again, swinging his right hand forward. Then everything went white.

* * *

To say it had been a really long day for Ruby was an understatement. She'd seen Penny ripped apart by Pyrrha because of Mercury and his team, she'd faced Torchwick and his sidekick solo, watching the former get eaten alive by a Griffon, watched a giant Dragon Grimm fly from Mountain Glenn to Beacon, had been forced to see her sister lying unconscious with her _right arm missing,_ and now she and Weiss had gotten a call from a very distressed Jaune, who'd been shouting about Pyrrha going to the top of Beacon tower to fight someone who he was convinced was going to kill the Invincible Girl. They had intended to question Jaune further, but they just heard him shout and apparently throw his Scroll away.

This had all gone way too far. Too much had gone wrong. Now she had told that Pyrrha was about to engage someone in combat that Jaune believed was far beyond Pyrrha's ability to defeat. No, this was one too far. It hadn't happened yet. She could do something.

Weiss had created a line of glyphs all the way to the top of the tower, where that Dragon Grimm was perched, and now Ruby was sprinting up the side of the tower as fast as her legs would take her. She could see signs of battle in the form of jets of flame, as well as angry shouting. However, when she got to the top, her eyes widened. There was an arrow heading towards Pyrrha, an incredibly battle-damaged Gula was diving in between the arrow and Pyrrha before launching a red blast from his palm. The arrow and the blast collided in a terrific explosion that knocking both Pyrrha and Gula backwards before they were obscured by the flame and smoke from the explosion. When the smoke cleared, Ruby felt her heart leap into her throat and start beating in horror. Both Gula and Pyrrha were unconscious and not moving. Ruby's eyes turned to the one who had fired the arrow. Ruby had seen her before. She was from that Haven team, the one that Mercury was one! She was behind all of this! And now she was _laughing_ at the sight of Pyrrha and Gula possibly dead!

Ruby started shaking. It was all too much. All the horrors she'd witnessed today, the emotional torment from Penny's brutal death and Yang's amputation, Gula and Pyrrha potentially dead atop the tower, everything came to a head. Ruby dropped to her knees with an emotional wail. She heard Cinder scream something in surprise, but then everything went white. She could hear things but couldn't make out what they were. It was all ringing…

Then she heard uncle Qrow… He was reassuring her… What happened?

"sigh _… nothing…"_

" _Just turn it off. Without the CCT, there's no point."_

" _Communication down across the entire kingdom, no way to contact the outside world, and Ozpin's still missing."_

" _Yeah…"_

" _This is bad, Qrow."_

" _Yeah, this is bad."_

* * *

As Ruby's eyes cracked open, the first thing she noticed was that she felt really, _really_ stiff. The next thing she noticed was that wherever she was, it felt really… familiar… comfortable… Then she realized that she was back in her room on Patch, tucked into bed. As she looked around, she noticed her dad sitting on a chair at her bedside, asleep. Ruby slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, groaning a bit at the stiffness in her joints. How long had she been asleep?

Taiyang had apparently only been lightly dozing, as his eyes opened and turned to Ruby.

"Ruby!" He exclaimed as he got out of his chair and hurried over to her side. "You're awake!"

"What happened?" Ruby asked as she tried to shake away the drowsiness.

"Your uncle Qrow found you, unconscious. He got you out of there though, he brought you home safe." Taiyang assured her. However, then Ruby remembered the big one.

"Wait, Yang! Is she alright?" Ruby asked desperately. Taiyang's smile fell immediately, causing Ruby's concern to turn to dread.

"She's… she's gonna be alright. I think she's just… I think it's just going to take some time for her to get used to things… She's too strong to let this stop her." Taiyang answered, though he sounded pretty down about all this too. He sniffed and wiped his eyes before looking at Ruby again. "I'm just glad to have my girls back at home."

"What about the school? And Vale?! Were they able to clear out the Grimm?" Ruby asked.

"They're getting a handle on it. It'll take some time, but eventually they'll have them gone."

Ruby turned to see someone she hadn't expected to see. Standing in the doorframe was Gula, though he didn't look very happy.

"Gula? What are you doing here?" Ruby asked.

"Wasting my time. I could be out helping to clear out a few Grimm packs or checking in back home, but Qrow's been insistent on keeping me around." Gula answered as he moved from his position against the doorframe to look out the window of Ruby's room. He was dressed in a very different style than his normal wardrobe, wearing a grey T-shirt, black vest with elbow-length sleeves, dark blue pants, black boots and a green sash. The last two were the only things from his old outfit that had made it to the new one.

"What's with the new outfit?" Ruby couldn't help but ask. Gula groaned.

"Your dad grabbed it quickly when Qrow arrived with you, me, Yang, team JNPR and that other girl, Amber, and has been insistent that don't walk around 'dressed like a hobo.' I swear, as soon as I can, I'm replacing these with my usual." Gula growled. Taiyang rolled his eyes and muttered something about appreciation. The only sign that Gula had heard him was his tail twitching a bit.

"Wait, you said JNPR! Is Pyrrha alive?" Ruby asked desperately. Gula huffed.

"She's alive, but that arrow through her ankle really messed her up. Your dad claims to have called in some favors to see what they can do about it, but the odds are fifty-fifty on whether or not they can fix it properly." Gula told her. Ruby frowned. Yet another friend crippled because of _her_.

"Why's uncle Qrow keeping you around? Are you still recovering?" Ruby continued, wanting to get away from what happened to Pyrrha and Yang. Gula huffed again.

"He thinks that something's up and since I can sense Grimm, Aura and life signatures, he wants me nearby as an early warning system and a deterrent. I'm just indulging him for now, since Vale's doing alright without my help." Gula answered, though Ruby had a feeling there was more to it than that.

"The school's another story though." Taiyang muttered.

"Right, that dragon. It's still up there, frozen in place. It's not going anywhere." Gula muttered.

"Don't get us wrong though, you did a real number on it. But, like Gula said, it's not disappearing. It's just frozen there, and it's attracting more Grimm to the school." Taiyang explained.

"I did… what?" Ruby asked, causing Taiyang to flinch almost imperceptivity.

"You said I did a number on it. What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"And there's the million lien question." Gula muttered, his eyes flicking back towards Taiyang.

"I… Look, that's not important right now. We can talk about it later. Things are just… kind of a mess." Taiyang told her. Gula made a noise in his throat indicating annoyance.

"It's always a mess."

Both Taiyang and Ruby looked to the doorway and saw Qrow standing in it, taking a draught from his ever-present flask. Gula didn't so much as flinch, though he did glance in Qrow's direction.

"Is she awake?" Gula asked. Qrow wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and pocketed the flask.

"Yeah, she's up. I gave her the short story." Qrow answered. Ruby looked back and forth between them, confused.

"Wait, who's 'she'? Is it Yang? Pyrrha?" Ruby inquired, but Gula shook his head.

"Me or Qrow will explain later. It's best I not keep her waiting." Gula replied before walking out of the room and down the hall.

"Mind if we have a minute?" Qrow asked. Taiyang eyed Qrow suspiciously.

"What, I can't stay here?" Taiyang asked in a slightly challenging tone.

"Tai, please?" Qrow asked again. Taiyang took a moment longer to eye Qrow before he huffed in resignation and stood up, giving Ruby a kiss on the head before beginning to leave.

"I'll go make us some tea." He said before continuing out, shooting a warning glare Qrow's way. Qrow dragged the chair over to Ruby's bedside and dropped into it.

"So, how you feeling?" Qrow asked in his usual voice.

"Um... I kind of hurt... all over." Ruby replied. Maybe it wasn't stiffness from all the bedrest. Qrow just chuckled a bit.

"That makes sense, after what you did." Qrow replied, crossing his arms. Ruby frowned at this mention of 'what she did'. It was getting ridiculous!

"You guys keep saying that! That I did something! What are you talking about?!" Ruby demanded. Qrow closed his eyes and took a deep breath before leaning forward and uncrossing his arms

"What's the last thing you remember?" Qrow asked. Ruby could already feel her heart speeding up from the recollection

"I ran up the side of the tower, and when I got to the top, I… I saw Gula and Pyrrha caught in an explosion." Ruby paused, taking a moment to recollect herself before continuing. "I saw Cinder laughing at them, when they could have been dead! Then… Everything went white!" Ruby managed to get out before she could break down.

"Anything else?" Qrow asked.

"I remember... my head hurting." Ruby added. Qrow took a deep breath before continuing.

"The night you met Ozpin, what was the first thing he said to you?" He asked. Now Ruby was just confused.

"I... I don't know. I think it was something about..." Ruby started before Qrow cut her off.

"Silver eyes. That's an extremely rare trait." He commented. Ruby felt a little bit incensed. What did her eyes have to do with this?

"So?" She demanded.

"You're special, Ruby. And not in the 'daddy loves his special angel kind of way. You're special the same way your mom was. Remnant's full of legends and stories, some of them true, some made up. But there's one Oz told me from a very long time ago. Back before Huntsmen, before Kingdoms, it was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior. You see, the creatures of Grimm, the most fearsome monsters mankind had ever encountered, were afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down." Qrow told her before smirking a bit. "Heh. It's a ridiculous story."

"But... you think that I might be..." Ruby started, only to be cut off by Qrow's quiet chuckles.

"Well, a giant monster is currently frozen on top of Beacon Tower. And you're here, safe in bed." Qrow pointed out before getting to his feet and walking over to the window that Gula had been previously standing at.

"Wait, wait, how did you know what Ozpin said to me... the night we met?" Ruby asked. Qrow let out a huff of his own.

"All those missions I go on... all the times I'm away in some far-off place... it's been for Ozpin. But he's missing now. Something's been set in motion. With Oz gone, I'll have to pick up where he left off." Qrow stated grimly. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good. Ruby felt resolve stirring within her.

"And what could I do? If I'm so special, then I can help, right?" She asked, only for Qrow to put that idea in the bin.

"You really wanna help? Get some rest. You're in no condition to go anywhere right now. Besides, our enemy's trail leads all the way to Haven. That'd be quite a trip for a pipsqueak like you." Qrow told her as he walked towards the door. "Catch ya later, kiddo"

Ruby watched as her uncle vanished from sight around the doorframe and frowned before looking out the window of her room before looking in the mirror. The face looking back was one of determination.

She knew her path now. She was going to get to Haven, one way or another. And once she was there, she was going to stop Cinder.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for today! This chapter went on much longer than I initially anticipated, but I feel it went very well. There was a bit of Gula vs Cinder, Pyrrha AND Amber are still alive, and now the path forward is clear… right? Well, not really. For Ruby, it might be. But for Gula, not quite.**

 **Creativity: Say, when is he gonna get his usual outfit back?**

 **Author: We'll get to that when we get to it.**

 **Well, not much else to talk about here. I guess I could add that Before: KH has had its first season completed and the final chapter will come out November… 16** **th** **I believe, but I don't there's much crossover readership there. So for now, I'll just say thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Welp, here we are again!**

 **Creativity: Oh, the freedom we feel~**

 **Author: Yeah, the freedom to work on whatever we want on vacation from primary project land tastes something sweet.**

 **Now, before we move into the reviews, I'm going to be introducing a rule that will come with any and all questions regarding power levels or strength comparisons, in that they will henceforth be ignored in reviews, as well as just in general. I also withdraw any and all previous statements for power comparisons that weren't directly in the story, since we all know, and recite it with me now, "POWER LEVELS DON'T MEAN ANYTHING!"**

 **Creativity: Oh, this rule will also apply to any and all future Dragon Ball projects we may or may not start in future.**

 **Author: Alright, with all that out of the way, here's the review responses:**

 **Avenger: I'm still going over how to reveal the whole "I am an alien" thing, but it will put a previous campfire story in perspective if he shares the full details of it.**

 **RayDjok: Glad you enjoyed, hope you enjoy this one!**

 **Well, with all the review responses out of the way, let's have a little discussion about this chapter.**

 **So, this one is kind of a dividing line in a way. I mean, the lines between Volumes three and four are pretty obvious and this story will follow that pattern. For those of you who detest volumes five and six, you might want to get a belt to bite down on, since we won't be straying too far from that pathway. However, we won't be sticking to it rigidly either, nor will we be there for a good chunk of it, so you can ease off that belt now.**

 **Creativity: Much like with Pyrrha and Amber, we'll be making adjustments that don't necessarily change the trajectory of the plot but do change the road we take to get there.**

 **Author: You'll see what we mean when we get there. At this point, we'll probably be breezing through volumes four through six at a brisk pace, considering they took place over a period of… Ima guess about two-and-a-half months? RNJR on the road for say six weeks, get to have and spend a week in Haven before shit goes sideways, then a couple weeks of travel time to Argus? Sound about right? I tried looking for an official timeline and I came up dry, so we're just gonna have to make due.**

 **Well, enough about that, it's time for the chapter proper! After the Discord password, of course: R23A8zG**

 **Alright, NOW it's time for chapter proper! And here it is! Allow us to proudly present chapter 23 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

When Gula's eyes cracked open, he couldn't help but notice how sore everything was. He hadn't felt this sore since… Actually, it had been quite recently, hadn't it? Right, Aspera had appeared and they'd beaten the ever-loving shit out of each other across two of Remnant's continents. What had happened after that?

There'd been an underground chamber, a girl, Jaune, Pyrrha and Ozpin had been there too, then someone else… An enemy. Right, that woman in that red dress. She'd gotten some sort of special powers from that unnamed girl and… He'd been involved in that somehow, right? He'd tried to give the girl energy since she was in death's doorway. It worked, but apparently something went wrong.

Later he'd flown to the top of Beacon Tower and fought that woman again to the best of his ability, which had been pretty garbage since he'd still been fighting off whatever the hell had happened to him during his fight with Aspera and whatever Ozpin had done to him in the timeframe in between the mess he and his sister had made across Remnant, and the mess that Gula woke up to.

"There's always another mess isn't there…" Gula muttered as he slowly sat up. He heard a creaking somewhere to his left and suddenly his Saiyan instincts were primed, crimson energy gathering in his hand.

"Woah, woah, cool your jets! I'm the one who got you outta there!"

Standing in the doorframe was a man with graying black, spiky hair, dull red eyes and slight stubble along his jawline. The man wore a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants and black dress shoes, as well as a tattered red cloak. He wore a ring on his right index finger, two other rings on his right ring finger and had a crooked cross pendant around his neck.

"And who exactly are you?" Gula growled at him. The man stepped inside, hands held up placatingly.

"The name's Qrow. I work with Ozpin. When things went sideways I found you, the Nikos kid and my niece unconscious at the top of Beacon Tower, along with a Wyvern that was turned to stone, least so far as I could tell. I managed to piece together some of what happened when I got everyone off the tower and out of Vale. Oh, by the way, welcome to Patch. You caused quite a stir there before the Vytal festival." The man, now known as Qrow, introduced himself before grabbing a chair to sit down on.

"I'm assuming you want to know what happened on top of the tower, right? Well, if it's about how the dragon Grimm turned to stone, I got knocked unconscious after that fire woman decided to play dirty and the Grimm was still very much a Grimm at that point." Gula told Qrow, who shook his head.

"No, I figured that much. What I want to know is how Cinder Fall, that's the 'fire woman' you mentioned, managed to get a hold of the full power of the Fall Maiden without Amber dying." Qrow replied, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Alright, you're going to have to back up and explain what the hell you meant by 'Fall Maiden'. All I know was that the girl, I'm assuming she's the Amber you're talking about, was teetering on the brink of death and I gave her some of my life energy to stabilize her own. There was weird reaction afterwards, some sort of energy ball came out of her, then she started vomiting out this black stuff. It felt like Grimm to me." Gula answered. Qrow frowned.

"Well, you sort of just answered me. Still have no clue what it means though. Well, to keep it simple, at any given time on Remnant, there's four women, one for each of the seasons, who have incredible magic power. When one dies, the power typically transfers to the last person who was last in their thoughts before death, unless it's a guy or an old crone. Then it becomes completely random. Amber was the previous Fall Maiden before she was attacked by Cinder Fall and had a large chunk of her power stolen. Then it appears the rest of it somehow separated from Amber after you healed her with whatever weird crap you do and went straight to Cinder." Qrow explained. Gula frowned.

"Is Amber alive and nearby?" He asked.

"If you're looking to talk to her, she's still unconscious. Doc says she should wake up in a few days, if that's what you're worried about." Qrow informed him, but Gula shook his head.

"That's not why I'm asking." He replied before he reached out with his energy sense and started searching. It didn't take too long to find what he was looking for. Considering he could sense both Aura and life signatures if the former was unlocked, it wasn't hard to discern what had happened. It wasn't pretty in the least.

"Well, I can maybe, sort of explain what happened with the Maiden power now, but you aren't gonna like it." Gula told Qrow as his eyes opened. Qrow eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense." Qrow replied. Gula took a deep breath before beginning the explanation.

"A little while back, I learned how to sense the life energy signatures of other living creatures, and it turns out that along with the energy sensing, I can also sense Aura if it's been unlocked. Grimm also appear in my sense as 'cold spots', if that makes any sense. Anyway, It's safe to assume that Amber had a fairly strong Aura, right? And I mean without the Maiden powers to boost it at all." Gula inquired. When Qrow nodded in affirmation, only making Gula's face become more grim.

"That's what I thought. Right now, her Aura's not even half as strong as Ruby's and it doesn't look like it'll get any better." Gula explained. Qrow twitched in surprise.

"That doesn't make sense! We ran a scan of her and she's sitting at an even one hundred percent right now!" He exclaimed before he realized that he'd raised his voice.

"You aren't wrong. That's just her new maximum. I was really out of it when I came to down in whatever room they were keeping me and Amber in, but I do remember sensing a Grimm signature inside her. Best guess is that it was left over from when they tried to steal her powers the first time, latched onto her Aura like a parasite. When I gave her that energy transfusion, I think the energy catalyzed her Aura and caused it to rip away the section of itself that the parasite was attached to, which would have included the Maiden Powers the parasite was targeting." Gula explained. Qrow looked slightly aghast at the description that Gula had provided.

"So, you're saying that…" He started, only for his voice to stop.

"She's missing a not-insignificant portion of her own Aura, yeah. And likely by extension, part of her soul." Gula finished grimly. Qrow leaned back in his chair.

"Well, this is quite a bit to take in." Qrow muttered as he stood up.

"Is that it? Nothing else to discuss?" Gula asked, causing Qrow to laugh humorlessly.

"Oh, plenty. Just not now. I've got three other teenagers who are conscious to worry about, one of my nieces is missing her right arm, and the other is still unconscious. Then there's the Nikos kid, who's still getting operated on… _sigh…_ What a mess…" Qrow muttered before moving to leave, only to pause as he remembered one more thing.

"Oh, right. Tai grabbed you some new threads since your old ones are… well, they're in rough shape to say the least. It's all piled on that chest over there" Qrow informed him, gesturing to the chest in question. Sure enough, there was a small pile of clothes resting on the aforementioned chest. After groaned as he moved to leave the bed, wincing before relaxing as his joints popped before he stood up and walked over to the clothes. After laying them out so that he could see them, he frowned.

"These are definitely not going to work." He muttered.

* * *

"Put them on."

"No."

"You are not walking around my house in nothing but ripped up and burned pants and a sash."

"I'm not going to wear those."

"Kid, just wear 'em and be done with it. Of all the things to be arguing about, wardrobe is not one any of us have the patience for."

Gula shot a glare at Qrow, but wordlessly snatched the clothes from Taiyang and marched into the room he was currently occupying and shut the door, grumbling on the other side.

"Would it really kill him to show a little appreciation?" Taiyang muttered.

"For all we know, appreciation is a foreign concept to his kind." Qrow muttered before he paused halfway through his latest draught from his flask.

"Woah, not cool Qrow." Taiyang warned him. Qrow groaned and rubbed his temples. Well, if it was a choice between spilling the beans of having Taiyang keep after him for what was understandably taken as an ignorant statement, he was leaning towards spilling. Especially considering all the craziness that had and was likely going to keep happening.

"Alright Tai, I know you aren't going to believe me when I say this, but that kid isn't a faunus." Qrow told Taiyang, who just scoffed a bit.

"Um, Qrow? I've seen the tail and I can tell it isn't fake. I mean, it is a little strange that it isn't the same color as his hair, but…" Taiyang started, only for Qrow to cut him off.

"No, Tai. He isn't human either. He isn't from Remnant." Qrow stated, finally ripping off the bandage. Taiyang stared at Qrow for a moment before he burst out laughing. Then it stopped when he realized that Qrow was looking at him with a one hundred percent straight face.

"Alright, what have you got in that flask?" Taiyang asked as he reached for it, only for Qrow to move it out of Taiyang's reach.

"It's not the booze, Tai. Ozpin knew it too. Ironwood's in on it as well. He has the pod that the kid arrived here in." Qrow informed him, causing Taiyang to pause.

"Oh Oum, you're actually serious…" Taiyang muttered.

"Yeah, that's about the reaction I had." Qrow replied.

"Okay then… Anything I should keep in mind when dealing with the alien which is currently getting changed in the guest room?" Taiyang asked Qrow, who just shrugged.

"You should probably stock up on food. That kid's stomach is a bottomless pit. Also, if he gets properly scared of anything, run for the hills, because wherever he is will transform into a bombed out warzone in a few minutes." Qrow told him with not a hint of humor in his voice before making his way downstairs. Needless to say, Taiyang was wondering just what the hell he'd gotten himself wrapped up in. In fact, he was so out of it that he jumped a little bit when the door opened and Gula stepped out of the guest room, an annoyed scowl on his face as he looked down at the clothes.

"I look ridiculous." He muttered flatly. Taiyang opted not to comment as Gula walked past him and down the stairs to sit at the table. Qrow was currently raiding the fridge and nobody else was around. This was going to be his company for the foreseeable future; his perpetually plastered brother in law, and an ungrateful alien who apparently was strong enough to take on a Maiden while he was walking wounded.

Of course, there were other people who were staying at the house temporarily, namely the JNR of JNPR. Pyrrha was currently in the middle of an operation to remove a few lingering pieces of glass from her leg and the rest of her team was at the hospital to support her. The only other two people were currently confined to their beds for varying reasons, one in the midst of dealing with the loss of their dominant arm and the other currently in a coma. Taiyang decided to leave Qrow and Gula on their own while he waited went to check on Ruby again.

"So, what's happened since I got knocked unconscious again?"

Qrow huffed as he finished microwaving some of Taiyang's leftover pasta from the previous evening and sat down at the table.

"Well, the Nikos kid is at the hospital. They're finishing up on removing the glass from her leg. After that, they're gonna see if the tendons can repair themselves, or if there's a procedure to fix them if they won't heal naturally. I don't wanna sound pessimistic, but the chances are slim that she'll be able to walk without support ever again, let alone fight." Qrow told him. Gula's fingers clenched a bit at the fabric around his arms. Pyrrha had a natural talent for battle, and she'd enjoyed it on some level. She'd been an excellent student during the brief training trip Ozpin had roped him into, especially since he'd been in a bit of a rut from what he'd seen. And now, it could be all over. Setting aside how Pyrrha would be handling that, Gula considered it to be unacceptable that _this_ is how it would end for a prodigy.

"Anything else?" Gula asked, suddenly eager to move away from talk about Pyrrha. Qrow audibly swallowed a mouthful of pasta before continuing.

"Well, aside Amber and Ruby still being out for the count, Yang's not doing so well either. She tried to fight a high-ranking member of the White Fang and lost her arm in the fight. Afterwards, Belladonna vanished and Schnee's father came to town drag her back to Atlas, threatening to cut of Dust supplies to the efforts to clean up Beacon to do it, too. All in all, it's… _sigh_ …" Qrow started, only for Gula to finish.

"It's bad."

"Yeah. It's bad." Qrow concluded. After sitting for a while, Gula got up and started heading towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Qrow asked him as his hand closed around the knob.

"I'm going to go clean up some of the Grimm in Vale. I could do with the exercise." Gula replied.

"As much as I would enjoy seeing that on the news, we all need you to stay here. You showing up and blasting all the Grimm to kingdom come might be good in the short term, but after your little show during the Breach, people will wonder where the hell you were during this disaster. That'll lead to anger and resentment, which will just bring the Grimm back." Qrow reasoned.

"Do I look like I care about what they think? Besides, the more dead Grimm, the better. No one's going to argue that." Gula replied as he turned the knob and started opening the door.

"Alright then, how about Ruby, Pyrrha and Amber? Or the rest of the kids for that matter? After what happened in Vale, nowhere is safe. At least with you, people who have any idea of who you are will run for the hills. For those who don't know who you are, you can turn them into mince meat. Besides, someone's gotta break it to Amber what happened to her soul, and since you're technically the one who made it possible…" Qrow started only for Gula to slowly shut the door without turning to face Qrow. The drunk swordsman had a brief moment of panic, but he managed to keep a poker face as Gula turned around to glare at him.

"You really wanna play it like that, huh…" Gula muttered in a low tone. Qrow didn't move. He figured that any action would prompt a negative response from Gula, so it was best to just wait and respond. Eventually, Gula finally let out a loose string of grumbles before walking over to the couch and flopping down on it, his tail twitching and curling to communicate his frustration. Qrow relaxed and finished his pasta before getting up and heading back upstairs to check on those currently confined to bedrest. Gula needn't have bothered, simply using his energy sensing to check on everyone in the house. Ruby was still unconscious, as was Amber, Taiyang was currently with Yang, who was awake but was definitely not her usual self. It seemed that one's emotional state could affect one's energy signature. Qrow was checking in on Ruby, and... Three energy signatures were slowly approaching the house. Getting to his feet, Gula looked out the window to see three familiar Beacon students walking along the pathway to the log house.

Once they were close enough, Gula opened the door to allow Jaune, Nora and Ren back inside.

"Hey, you're awake!" Jaune said in a surprised voice as Gula stepped aside, allowing them to walk into the house.

"Don't sound so surprised." Gula replied, though there were hints of humor in it, if only half-hearted.

"How is she?" He then asked, leading the mood to drop almost instantly.

"They got all the glass out, but… They're giving her 50/50 odds on whether she'll ever be able to walk again, let alone fight." Jaune muttered. He clearly was the most broken up over it than the others, though that wasn't to say Nora and Ren weren't feeling down on Pyrrha's current state.

"Say, has Ruby woken up yet?" Nora asked, pretty obviously to try and move away from the Pyrrha topic.

"Not yet. I only woke up a few hours ago and trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my time until Ruby and Amber wake up." Gula replied as he went back to the couch.

"Amber… She's that girl that was in that weird basement with you, right? What's the deal with her?" Jaune asked him.

"I'm not the person to tell you that, but I can at least tell you that I'm the reason she's alive, but I got a feeling she isn't going to be very happy with that when she learns the full details." Gula answered. Jaune wasn't very happy with that response. Gula could easily tell by the way Jaune's face tightened a bit at his answer.

"What about those full details? I saw her puking out that weird black stuff, then she passed out again. Does that having anything to do with her unconsciousness?" Jaune pressed. Gula shook his head.

"It wouldn't be fair to provide details to you before her. Right now, only me and Qrow know it. Once she knows, it'll be at her discretion if she wants to others to know. It's going to really affect her." Gula muttered before walking off.

"What was that about?" Nora asked as Gula strode up the stairs.

"My guess is that he feels responsible for whatever happened to Amber. He has to be sticking around for a reason." Ren suggested.

"You say that like he did something wrong. She was basically dead when me, Pyrrha and Ozpin found the two of them, and he saved her." Jaune muttered.

"At what cost, though? We don't know what really happened." Ren pointed out.

"I know. That's the problem." Jaune muttered darkly.

* * *

 _A few days later…_

" _Where… Where am I…"_

Amber's eyelids twitched a bit before slowly fluttering open, very slowly beginning to adjust to the light. She felt awful, like she was fighting the single worst cold she'd ever had. She felt cold, her whole body ached, that sensation that gravity had increased and was dragging you further into the mattress… Wait, mattress? She was lying on a bed?

Groaning a bit as her eyes adjusted, she realized that she was in a room illuminated by the sun shining in through a small window over the bed she currently lay in. It was a modest room, looking more like an old child's room that had been hastily repurposed for a bedroom. Slowly pushing herself up, she winced at the soreness and stiffness in her joints before she winced again at the sound of a door clicking and squeaking open. As she looked towards said door, she felt a brief moment of relief from the fact that this was someone familiar.

"Q…Qrow…" She managed to rasp out. It seemed her vocal cords weren't doing so great either.

"Hey, kid. Good to see you up." Qrow replied. Even if he didn't show it, Amber could tell he was relieved to see her awake.

"Wh… _cough cough…_ Where am I…?" Amber asked. Qrow gingerly grabbed a wooden chair and carried it over before sitting down.

"You're at Taiyang's house. He's my brother in law, he's sort of in the know about all this stuff." Qrow explained. Amber had another coughing fit before rubbing her forehead. Qrow frowned.

"You need some water? You've been unconscious for a while." Qrow offered.

"Yeah, water sounds great." Amber croaked before another coughing fit. Qrow immediately left the room and came back with a tall glass of water. After helping her take a few sips, he set it aside and sat back in the chair. Having gotten some fluids into her system, Amber felt a little better. Not by much, though.

"What… happened to me, Qrow? I remember a fight, then… It felt like I was getting all the warmth leached out of me…" Amber murmured as she shuddered. Qrow sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"This is gonna be… a screw it. Kid, you are going to feel horrible after this, and I can only explain so much. There's someone downstairs who can explain the rest to you when I'm done, but you will not like any of it. At all." Qrow told her, causing her to shrink back a bit. What had happened to her?

"So, the people who attacked you work for _her._ You probably already knew that much. Anyway, this case was different. They somehow managed to steal a segment of the Maiden powers from you. The trauma from having a portion of the power ripped out of you, coupled with the damage from the fight put you in a coma and dying. We managed to stabilize you with Atlas tech, but you weren't getting any better." Qrow shared. Amber felt as if ice water had begun to flow through her veins instead of blood.

"They… took the Fall Maiden's power from me…?" Amber whispered, aghast at the mere thought of it.

"Part of it. We didn't know what to do, but General Ironwood presented a solution; capture your Aura and place it in a different host body, thus transferring the powers along with." Qrow continued, his face briefly morphing into one of disgust at the mention of Ironwood's suggestion. Amber was horrified. What would that have done to her? To the host that Qrow had mentioned?!

"Anyway, not long after I got you back to Ozpin, we accidentally discovered some weird kid who… Well, this part isn't all that bad. The kid's incredible. He's got abilities unlike anything Remnant's ever seen, and it turns out that it's because he _isn't from_ Remnant." Qrow continued. Now Amber was just confused.

"You're saying that… _cough cough… cough…_ He's an alien?" Amber asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, that's exactly what he is. We even found the ship he crashed here in. Anyway, since he showed up, there's been other aliens showing up looking for a fight and he's been blasting them all to hell. Then, he got wrapped up in one hell of a fight. According to Oz, he won. But the damage from it was so bad that we had to put him on life support like you. Then, the Vytal festival rolled around…" Qrow muttered, his tone turning exceptionally dark.

"It all went wrong. The White Fang attacked Vale, a ton of Grimm managed to get into the colosseum and the city, a Wyvern arrived on top of all of it, and then… the assassin that came after you made their move. Oz and the next candidate he'd settled on to be the Fall Maiden made a break for the Vault to try and foil the attempt, and then wonder-kid woke up. He believed that he could use his weird powers to heal you, and Ozpin took that chance. So, the kid did his thing and it worked… sort of…" Qrow continued. Amber didn't like the way he ended that last sentence.

"Qrow… What happened…?" Amber managed to get out before another coughing fit overcame her.

"Honestly, neither of us is really sure. What we do know is that whatever the assassin did to steal your powers, it left some sort of Grimm… thing attached to the Maiden powers and by extension, your Aura. Best guess right now is that when the kid did what he did, your Aura cut off the part that was… _infected…_ and the powers went straight to the Assassin." Qrow finished explaining. Amber began to feel panic blooming in her stomach.

"What… what does that even mean?! I'm…!" Amber started to hyperventilate, but Qrow managed to calm her down.

"Easy, easy! You're gonna be fine. So far, the only consequence that we've found is that your Aura levels have been cut drastically. I don't know how this will affect your Semblance, but health-wise, you're fine." Qrow assured her. Amber felt tears beginning to well in her eyes. What had been done to her?! Qrow huffed and ran his hand through his hair again.

"Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but there's one other person you need to talk to. If you're feeling up to it, I'll go get him." Qrow informed her. After taking a few moments to collect herself as best she could, she nodded to Qrow, who got up and left the room.

Now that she was alone, if only for a moment, Amber let out a quiet sob. She almost wished that she'd died instead of having to live and hear what Qrow had told her. The powers of the Fall Maiden taken from her, a good deal of her very _soul_ gone with them, being trapped in some limbo between life and death for Oum knows how long…

She didn't have much more time to think about it before the door opened again. However, it wasn't Qrow this time. Instead, it was a boy, about sixteen years old by her estimate. He had a ridiculous mane of spiky black hair, with a portion of it being tied back behind his head, not that it didn't really do much to tame the wild head of hair. He was dressed in a gray T-shirt, black vest with elbow-length sleeves, dark blue pants, black boots and a green sash. Swaying behind him was a brown monkey tail.

"How're you feeling?" The boy asked.

"Not good." Amber rasped. The boy frowned as he got to the chair.

"I'd have been surprised otherwise." He replied before sitting down in the chair.

"My name is Gula. I'm the one who brought you back from the brink of death, though I imagine you have mixed feelings about that." The boy, now known as Gula, introduced himself. Amber frowned at that last statement.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but… Yes, I have mixed feelings." Amber replied, though she regretted the harshness in her tone. It wasn't that much, but it was made worse by how scratchy her throat was.

"Again, I'd be surprised otherwise. Either way, we need to talk." Gula continued before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What do you know about me already?" Gula asked Amber. Well, if that wasn't a slightly loaded question, thought Amber.

"That you're apparently an alien… That you've got strange powers… That you fight other aliens and apparently, can bring the nearly dead back to life…" Amber answered before she had another coughing fit.

"That about covers the basics. Listen, the stuff I'm going to tell you, I haven't even told Qrow or Ozpin. They know the basics, but they don't have the specifics of any of it. And if it's all the same to you, I'd like this to stay between us until I decide to share the rest of it, okay?" Gula requested. Amber was a bit taken aback by the level of trust he was willing to place in her.

"Why tell me?" She asked quietly. Gula huffed and glanced to the side.

"Guess I just feel I owe you that much, considering that part of your situation could be considered my fault." Gula replied before continuing.

"I'm from a world called Vegeta, home of the Saiyan race. We were reputed as the most powerful warrior race in the galaxy, so you can imagine that when I was born into a high-class family with a low-class power level, my family wasn't very thrilled. They kept me secret and tried to train me to be a high-class warrior like the rest of them. It didn't work out, and after an incident with my older brother, my father banished me from the planet when I was ten years old." Gula began his tale, leaving Amber speechless. He'd been not only shunned by his family, but completely cast away from his home planet?!

"Don't feel to bad. Turns out I lucked out since Vegeta got turned into space dust not long after I was banished. Anyway, my pod eventually crashed on Remnant and for the next six years, I've just lived my life here. It was a much better life than I ever had on Vegeta. But then… Things happened. The organization my people worked for found this world, and then found me. I've been fighting with them every now and again since if they kill me, they'd go on to clear the planet of life before selling it on the intergalactic market. Anyway, after a while, they got fed up with me killing all of the people they sent down to take me out, so they decided to send another Saiyan down to finish me off. Turns out that it was my older sister. We fought and I won, but I was beaten half to death. Ozpin found me and stuck me in a healing machine apparently and when I woke up, I was in some room underneath Beacon." Gula continued. Amber didn't even know where to start. This boy was only sixteen and he already had blood on his hands, and he was singlehandedly protecting the planet from being cleared of all life by other aliens?! It sounded too ridiculous to be true!

"When I saw you, I could sense Grimm inside you somehow. I'm able to sense life energy and Aura, as well as Grimm. They show up as 'cold spots' for lack of a better term, so I was able to pick up all three signatures from you. Your life energy was running dangerously low, so I offered to help you by giving you some of my own energy. It worked, but…" Gula continued, only for Amber to interrupt.

"…My body reacted to the Grimm by trying to expel it, getting rid of the Maiden powers and a large fragment of my Aura." Amber finished. Gula nodded grimly.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Amber demanded, ignoring her raspy throat.

"Like I said, I feel I owe you that. That aside, I figured you'd want to get involved in the fight again if you could." Gula explained. Amber let out a humorless laugh, which her throat swiftly punished her for with a coughing fit.

"Oh yes, I'll definitely get out there again with no weapon and _half my aura gone,_ with further possible damage done to me." She remarked, bitterness, anguish and frustration battling within her voice. Gula eyed her carefully.

"Well, I have a solution for that." He replied before lifting his right hand up, palm to the ceiling. Before her eyes, a ball of crimson energy materialized from thin air, floating about a half inch off the top of Gula's palm.

"What is that?" Amber wondered, mesmerized by it.

"This is life energy, or ki to others. It resides in every living thing in the universe and is not Aura, and I can confirm this because your own energy signature is perfectly fine, disregarding you recovering from expelling that Grimm stuff from your body." Gula explained as the energy vanished.

"Life energy can be manipulated to do many things. It can be used to strengthen the body, form energy blasts and waves, create energy weapons, even fly." To demonstrate the last item, Gula shocked Amber by levitating out of the chair and into the air before descending back into it.

"Why are you showing me this?" Amber asked.

"Because you're right. You can't rely on your Aura, or possibly your Semblance like you used to. If you want to get back into this fight, you'll need to find something else." Gula stated before he stood up.

"Amber, with your permission, I intend to teach you everything I know about energy manipulation, from energy waves, to powering up, to flight." Gula declared.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll end it! We'll be going dark on this story for a little while since we got a couple other things we want to work on. Also, to that one person, and you know who you are, demanding updates from me is not going to make me write any faster.**

 **Creativity: But back on track…**

 **Author: Right.**

 **So yeah, Gula's going to be teaching Amber the ways of energy manipulation! Isn't that exciting…**

 **Creativity: What about Pyrrha? Is she gonna be learning that too?**

 **Author: Actually, that's a good question. I haven't solidified where Pyrrha's going to go in the story, but I do know she's going to be there. I'll go into detail on that later.**

 **Anyway, we're going to be formally entering volume 4 next time! When that will be, I can't say for sure. However, it's gonna be a goodie. I can feel it…**

 **Well, that's about it from us for now! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Good day to you all! How are all of you today? Good? Wonderful!**

 **Creativity: Been a minute since we worked on this.**

 **Author: Well, there's exams coming up, so time to work on them hasn't exactly been easy to find. Plus, we were in a bit of a slump for a while. But, we're out of it now, and since we've got nothing better to do, why not get chapter 24 ready?**

 **As customary, let's get the review responses out of the way:**

 **Ben: Sorry, I've not read or watched Demon Slayer before. Even if I had, I probably wouldn't be working on anything for it, simply due to the fact that I've got two KH projects, a Venom project, a Star Wars project and this going on, plus college and work. Sooo… yeah. Kind of overextended, but yeah. But allow me to ask** _ **you**_ **a question: Why not write one yourself?**

 **Crazzytony: Why, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed.**

 **Potassium: Again, thank you. I'll probably be breaching from canon in some respects, but not in ways that will completely derail the story. Oh, and as for Super Saiyan, I'm saving that for a** _ **very**_ **special occasion.**

 **Guest 1: I've heard those ideas from numerous people, and while I would say that they're** _ **technically**_ **viable, I think I've got a better one. You'll get the explanations for that stuff in future. Still decent suggestions though, even if I feel they were kind of obvious. And I don't personally like obvious.**

 **Guest 2: I actually haven't thought about his height for a while now. I'd personally put him at around 5' 5, 5' 7 ish. As for his voice actor, I didn't really think about it much, but after giving it some though, I'd want to cast David Callagher, voice of Riku from Kingdom Hearts, as Gula.**

 **SSJGod: Personally, I write them with Word (previously Wordpad) and then upload the files directly to the site, no copy paste. I can't speak for the site's writing tool, but if you needed, I'm sure you could make it work.**

 **Avenger: I'm glad to hear that. I've got more for ya.**

 **Khoashex: Glad you like it. As for that transformation he's using, it's the same one that Broly uses in the new movie before he goes Super proper. It's described as tapping into the Great Ape transformation without actually transforming. Unless you're referring to the other transformation, in which case, I've laid out the details on that at the end of… chapter 20, I believe it was.**

 **Temsen: Again, amputate and robo-leg are too obvious for me. I've got it all plotted out, and while I do think a few people will be cocking their heads at me for it, I think it'll work fine.**

 **Matthew116: I suppose you'll just have to be patient and then wait and see.**

 **cbustroyer: The reason I kicked the power levels argument out was because 1: it shouldn't have been there to begin with. 2: I cannot stand the discourse that arises from them. Like, at all. 3: I don't like people turning my story into homework and then running to me with their worksheets, going on and on about how 'it doesn't add up' and expecting me to do something about it. It's exhausting, and it just makes me shake my head and think 'why…?'. As for the travelling thing, that's spoilery and I'll be steering clear of that for now. Don't worry, such details will be explained very soon.**

 **And that's all the review responses! Sorry if I was a bit much in that last one, but I've had that irritation simmering for a while, so thanks for giving me an opportunity to get it out there. Well, I don't really have much to say beyond what's already been said, so I'll just provide the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **And now, without further ado, here's chapter 24 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

"Concentrate."

"I'd concentrate better if you wouldn't keep reminding me, you know!"

"Your attention was wandering. I could see it clear as day."

Gula frowned as he watched Amber roll her eyes before she got back into ready position, feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, elbows pressed to her sides and forearms perpendicular to the ground with her fists clenched. There were small beads of sweat on her brow, rolling down her scarred face as she continued with training.

Amber had experienced a bit of a panic attack when she first saw the scars left behind from Cinder's first attempt on her life. The small scream from the bathroom had caused quite a few people to jump, then those in house who were capable and/or inclined to move rushing to the door to find out what was wrong. In retrospect, Gula figured they should have mentioned the scars. He wasn't exactly sure how they'd forgotten to mention them, so as to prevent a situation like this. Well, at least in Qrow and Taiyang's case. Gula had the excuse of just being used to scars, by dint of growing up on Planet Vegeta. Very few Saiyans were without them once they were in the field. At least until the Frieza Force's healing tech had improved, but that had only been a year or two before Gula was unceremoniously booted from the planet. Besides, the Frieza Force was pretty stingy with it at the time.

Gula shook his head and refocused on the task at hand, which was training Amber. Though, 'retraining' might have been a better word for it, at least in the beginning.

It'd been about four weeks since Amber had accepted his offer to train her; a decision that took her a few days of thinking to make. Gula figured she'd be thinking about it for a bit, but he didn't think it would take her that long. Though, her slow recovery probably had something to do with it. It took another week until she had been able to stand, and even then it was a bit shaky. Her time in that metal coffin had done her muscles no favors. After she managed to regain her strength, Gula had put her through a few tests to assess what he had to work with, then put her through the wringer to make sure she was strong enough to begin training in earnest. That had taken about two weeks of hard training, with meditation sessions to at least get her started on mastering ki sprinkled in in between. Luckily, it seemed that Amber's remaining aura had made her recovery from bootcamp the sequel all the swifter, so progress was made more readily.

They'd been training properly for about a week now and he was seeing definite improvement. She'd learned how to draw her energy out and the basics of powering up pretty quickly, only needing a few days to learn each. Flight had taken her the shortest time but given its ease of mastery once you knew how to manipulate energy and power up, it was taking her longer to achieve her first liftoff than Gula had initially anticipated.

Amber was currently wearing a light brown tank top, ash-colored sweatpants and brown runners. They'd been grabbed pretty quickly by Taiyang at the same time he'd been out grabbing clothes for Gula. They'd gotten a couple of sets for her after the first training session, considering that a day's training usually rendered them unfit for wear the next day and they didn't want to be running them through the wash every night.

"Remember, use your energy to push yourself off the ground. It's a basic skill when it comes to energy manipulation." Gula reminded Amber.

"Yes, I heard you the last time." She groaned before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. From what he'd heard, Amber had been capable of limited flight when she was the Fall Maiden, so she should theoretically be at least used to the sensation of flight. However, the relearning of the skill seemed to be a source of frustration for her.

Gula tuned in with his energy sense. He could sense her energy spike as she once again attempted to achieve liftoff. He'd been attempting to teach her this skill for the better part of two days now, and while progress had definitely been seen, it was still taking longer than he would have liked. When they'd begun training, it had quickly become apparent when training had begun that despite (or perhaps because of) the crippling of her Aura, Amber's well of life energy was greater than he'd anticipated. It was well beyond what Gula had sensed from any other resident of Remnant. He'd refrained from mentioning it yet, since he wasn't quite sure what the root cause of it was. It could be some lingering side effect of the Maiden powers, it could be that her life force had some how bolstered itself to fill the void of Aura, or it could be a false reading. Gula wasn't inclined to believe it was the latter, but he wasn't discounting it quite yet.

"Come on… Come on…" He heard Amber muttering as her energy aura flared a bit. Gula's eyes widened as he saw the shifting dirt and dust beneath her. He didn't dare say a word. He didn't dare breathe. He made no sound as her heels slowly lifted from the ground, followed by the balls of her feet, then her toes. Amber floated a good foot into the air before Gula finally spoke.

"Very well done!" Gula congratulated, causing Amber to suddenly take notice of her success. As it turned out, this caused her to freak out and yelp, losing control of her energy and falling to the ground, landing on her backside. Gula managed to keep his snickers under control as Amber groaned and got to her feet, dusting herself off before glaring at him and his subtle smirk.

"You couldn't have caught me?" She asked, a frown on her face and hands on her hips.

"I could have, but I felt it was an excellent teaching moment." Gula responded with a completely straight face. Amber wasn't convinced.

"Teaching moment how, exactly?" She demanded hotly.

"Well, don't lose control of your flight for one. Especially if you're at a much higher elevation." Gula promptly informed her before heading back towards the Rose Xiao-long household, with Amber following behind, still a bit miffed by his decision, but seeing the point behind it now.

"We'll keep working on flight after lunch. You'll need to master flight before we start heading to Mistral." Gula informed her before stepping inside.

"I'll get it down, don't worry." She assured him as he immediately went over to where Taiyang was finishing breakfast. He looked a bit stressed out, which was understandable considering his kitchen was one half dirty dishes and one half all-you-can-eat buffet. Such was the fate of those who tried to accommodate six Hunters in training, a former Maiden, and a Saiyan on top of it all. Gula had his sympathies, and at least aided in keeping the pantry well stocked with hunting trips and an arrangement with Patch's local butcher. Ruby, Amber and the JNR of JNPR were more than happy to help with the dish-washing. Pyrrha, who was currently sitting on the couch next to Jaune with her leg in a brace, kept trying to help, but she was still on crutches and wouldn't be admitted back into hospital except for a checkup to ensure she wasn't stressing her injury further. From what he'd heard, the crutches were a formality at this point, as Pyrrha could technically walk without them. However, since the wound was only beginning to heal, the doctor had mandated that no unnecessary strain be put on her foot at all until the next checkup.

As for why she wasn't being admitted back into hospital, there was an understandable but no less frustrating reason. Patch's hospital was overflowing with wounded from Vale and Beacon, and after Pyrrha had undergone surgery to remove the glass fragments from her foot, they needed to discharge her as soon as possible to make room for more serious cases, as they were quite numerous. Pyrrha didn't hold it against them, but the odds of getting in for further treatment were practically miniscule.

Though, this hadn't been without some unexpected benefits for her, as Gula had observed. Jaune was at her side every minute of every day, making sure she didn't do anything to strain her damaged muscles, fetching things for her despite her protests, and just being a comforting presence for her. That was something her whole team was doing, but Gula was noticing it particularly from Jaune and he was noticing barely concealed smiles from Pyrrha whenever the blonde was around. He'd heard a few heated arguments from them regarding her decision to face the woman who had stolen Amber's power, Cinder, on her own, a decision that while Gula agreed was foolish, also knew that it was precisely the same decision he would have made, if for different reasons.

Actually, he'd been meaning to have a discussion with Pyrrha soon regarding what she intended to do regarding the immediate future. Even if Taiyang was remaining in denial that Ruby or any of the other Hunters in training were intending to go after Cinder and her crew, Gula was very aware of this, and that JNR intended to accompany her, though Jaune was definitely on the fence about that decision. Despite this, Gula had a feeling Jaune would go at Pyrrha's insistence. Pyrrha would go herself, were she not currently on crutches and under strict doctor's orders to not do something like a cross-continental hike. Besides, despite how much she obviously enjoyed Jaune's company, Gula could tell that being treated like she was made of glass was starting to wear on her nerves. She'd probably have snapped already if it hadn't been counterbalanced by just having Jaune around.

Besides, Pyrrha needed some privacy to deal with a few things, chiefly her roll in the murder of Penny Polendina. That particular bit of news (learned courtesy of Qrow before his departure) came of particular shock to Gula, though when he learned of the circumstances of it, it no longer seemed all that surprising. An illusionist causing Pyrrha to hallucinate a far greater threat than reality, causing Pyrrha to panic and lash out wildly with her Semblance, and then there was the detail of Penny actually being a machine. That came of great surprise to Gula, though it made some sense in retrospect.

Pyrrha was obviously still shaken by all of that, and the constant coddling from Jaune and the constant go go go of the house had left basically alone time to sort herself out. So, that was yet another reason to get JNR out of the house and along with Ruby when she set off for Haven.

"Hey, Gula! Hey, Amber!"

Gula looked over his shoulder to see Ruby coming down the stairs, dressed in a black and red tank top and red sweats. She was probably going through preparations with Ren for leaving before she came downstairs. That, or trying to talk to Yang. And just like that, Gula was filled with an odd mixture of sympathy and teeth-breaking frustration. On the one hand, no offence intended, Gula could sympathize with Yang having difficulty with coming to grips with the loss of her dominant arm. On the other though, he'd heard in passing from Qrow and Taiyang that a mechanical replacement was on its way, though Yang didn't know about that yet. And on top of that, her attitude (or lack thereof) was becoming intolerable to Gula. The only time he'd seen anything resembling an emotion besides misery and self-pity was when she tried to blame Gula for not being there to stop the Fall, as the disaster at Vale and Beacon had come to be known as. Gula had shut her down quickly by revealed that he'd been beaten half-dead when that all went down and only regained consciousness when the Fall had hit its zenith. She was still bitter about it, and while Gula had been tempted to really lay into her about her attitude, he decided that it wasn't worth it, and that if she wanted to wallow, then she could wallow all she wanted. It wasn't his responsibility to give her a reality check.

Shaking his head, Gula opted to instead collect some food and sitting down at the table. Of course, 'some' food meant a large plate piled up to a height that had the others seated averting their eyes to avoid losing their appetites as Gula began to massacre the plate at record speed, cleaning it in only a few minutes before depositing his plate in the sink and heading back outside to do some more intensive exercises while he waited for Amber to finish eating.

"And people say _I_ eat fast..." Ruby muttered as he left. Gula paid it no mind as stepped outside and stretched.

He'd thought of a new training exercise, designed to increase his speed and precision, though he had yet to put it into practice. Standing at the end of the clearing that formed the Rose Xiao-Long backyard, Gula created a large red sphere of energy in his hand before throwing it straight forward. He immediately shot forward, rocketing past the energy blast before turning around and striking it with an open hand, sending it hurtling back whence it came! He then shot past it again and fired struck the blast again, sending it into the sky, whereupon he rushed past it again and knocked it in a different direction.

Gula continued on like this for a few minutes, occasionally adding additional blasts to the mix to further challenge himself. The goal was to not allow any blasts to detonate by contacting anything else, including himself or other blasts. By the end, he had about seven blasts going. However, he could also faintly see Amber watching him, so he closed out this little training session by knocking all of the spheres into the air and launching a blast after them that accelerated into the middle of them all and detonated, causing them all to detonate as well. After he landed back on the ground, he turned to see Amber, who'd been watching with a bit of awe, but quickly snapped to attention when his feet touched the ground.

"It's kind of weird, thinking I could even get close to that with this training." Amber commented as she walked back to where she'd attained liftoff before.

"Now that you've done it once, it should come to you easier. The action, the feeling, it's all imprinted into your nerves and muscles. You just need to remember it." Gula lectured as Amber took up ready position again. Gula monitored her energy as it slowly gathered. Sure enough, her heels slowly cleared the ground, followed by the balls of her feet, then her toes as she slowly began to levitate.

"Good! Keep your focus and open your eyes!" Gula called out as Amber levitated a good foot into the air. Amber did just that, cracking open her eyes so that she could see what was happening. This was followed be a yelp before she wavered in the air. Luckily, she managed to catch herself before she began falling.

"You alright? What shook you?" Gula called as he kept watching.

"That girl with the war hammer had her face pressed up against the window, fogging up the glass and maybe drooling? I'm not sure about that last one." Amber informed him. Gula pinched his brow as he shook his head. He couldn't say he was surprised. Ever since Gula had started training Amber, any conversation she had with anyone in in his presence always turned into 'flying and lasers' eventually. It seemed that the disaster at Beacon had done nothing to dull her… Nora…ness…

"She's just a bit too obsessed with learning to fly. I'll have Ren sit her down for a talk later." Gula replied as Amber tried some basic movement; left and right, backwards and forwards, circling and strafing, just relearning basic aerial movement. After a few minutes, Gula decided that she'd gotten the hang of it enough and decided to switch up the lesson.

"Alright, now we're going to be training your speed and reaction time while airborne." Gula informed her as he floated up into the air.

"Okay, how are we going to… ACK!" Amber started before yelping as she quickly zipped sideways, out of the way of a small energy blast that Gula had suddenly launched at her!

"Simple. Dodge." Gula replied with a shit-eating grin before twin spheres of crimson energy materialized in his hand. Amber muttered a word that was very uncharacteristic of her before she suddenly shot upwards to dodge the blasts that Gula had launched at her. He was quickly in hot pursuit, unleashing blast upon blast that Amber managed to swerve, bend and spiral out of the way of. It seemed that her old reflexes, while unrefined when held up against energy-based flight, were still sharp enough to aid her here. Well, at least until she accidentally smacked headfirst into a surprisingly sturdy branch when she tried to dodge another blast, promptly falling to the ground and started clutching her forehead while groaning.

"That used to hurt much less…" Amber groaned through her hands as she sat up, still rubbing her forehead as Gula landed next to her, arms crossed.

"Let me guess. There's a lesson in that?" She asked exasperatedly as she slowly got up.

"I'd say so, yes. Do you know what it was?" He asked as they started walking back to the Rose Xiao-Long cabin.

"Well, off the top of my head, be more aware of your surroundings." Amber replied a bit sarcastically before her face scrunched up in thought.

"Well, that's the obvious one. The other would be to use minimal movement to dodge while fighting in confined spaces. And, it was a bit of a lesson for me in how to provide better instruction." Gula replied. They'd breached the treeline by now and could see that Nora had been joined by Ruby to watch the two of them training.

"Wait, seriously? What's going to change? Are you going to stop teaching me by lobbing energy blasts at me?" She asked, desperate hope in her voice during the latter sentence.

"Oh no, I'm still going to do that. However, there are techniques you can work on that don't require space or heavy exertion to train. For instance, energy sensing." Gula informed her. While not quite the answer she was hoping for, Amber was visibly excited by the idea of learning energy sensing, and Gula could see why. Having an omnipresent sense of every life signature around her would definitely come in handy. Plus, there was the fact that one of the big reasons that Amber had wound up where she'd been prior to Gula's all but official act of resurrection was that she'd been caught off-guard by Cinder and her crew. Naturally, she didn't intend to get caught like that again.

As they got closer to the house, they realized that they had another spectator. Pyrrha was sitting on a chair on the porch, watching them as they returned from the woods. What was surprising was the lack of someone else to keep an eye on her. No Ren, no Jaune, she was just sitting on her own in the chair with her crutches sitting nearby.

"No Jaune? I thought he went everywhere you went." Gula asked as Pyrrha took a sip from a glass of water.

"He's having a nap right now and I wanted some fresh air." Pyrrha replied politely, a hint of guilt in her voice in the latter end of that sentence. It was more likely that she wanted a break from Jaune's constant worrying and help, much as she appreciated it and the sentiment behind it. Still, there was such as thing as 'too much' and Jaune had crossed that threshold some time back.

"Probably could do with some time to think, too." Gula pointed out.

"Yes, that too. I'm going back to the hospital tomorrow, and what they tell me will be pretty important." Pyrrha informed them. Her voice was shaking a bit, and understandably so. What they told her was going to have a pretty big impact on her for the foreseeable future.

"We can move this somewhere else if you'd like the privacy." Amber offered. Pyrrha smiled a bit.

"It's okay. I actually like watching. It's almost surreal in a way, watching you two fly and fight." Pyrrha replied.

"Glad we put on a good show. You certainly aren't the only one with that opinion." Gula answered, his eyes flicking in the direction of window that Ruby and Nora had been watching them through

Speaking of, we should get back to work." Gula announced as he started walking back to the practice area. Amber followed with an apologetic shrug to Pyrrha, who smiled politely before taking another sip from her water.

"Alright, so is it the same exercise? Please tell me it's not, please?" Amber asked (begged).

"Yes and no. We're still doing flight training, but instead of trying to avoid me, you'll instead be trying to land a single strike on me. I will be dodging. No blocking, no counterattacks." Gula informed her before he rocketed into the air. He waited patiently as Amber got into the air and followed him up. He locked eyes with his student got into a simple ready position before rocketing at him, throwing a left straight punch. It was easy enough to dodge, and Gula simply zipped to the left to avoid her strike. However, Amber had anticipated he'd dodge left and spun around, trying to hit him with her right elbow. However, Gula simply turned his body to be parallel with the ground and dodged under it. Amber lost control for a moment, spinning a bit too far and had to recover, which gave Gula plenty of time to reposition.

"If this was a real fight, you would have been wide open for a killing blow there." Gula called out before Amber whirled around and shot forward, going for a knee strike this time. Gula spun out of the way before ascending to avoid a spinkick, then began to pick up speed. Amber was immediately in pursuit, and Gula made sure to just go fast enough that she could keep up. However, it was obvious that she was way out of her depth, and her recognition and frustration of that fact was quite evident.

The song and dance of trying to land one hit on Gula, only for him to proverbially prance out of the way went on for another twenty minutes, by which point Amber was exhausted. Gula decided to call their session there, since he didn't want her to overtax herself. She'd only just figured out flying not too long ago, and despite her unusually high reserves of Ki, it was better to err on the side of caution.

After landing and making sure that Amber wasn't about to collapse, Gula and Amber made their way back to the house. However, instead of continuing to the door, Amber paused on the steps.

"I think I'll stay outside for a while before I come in." Amber told him. Gula shrugged before heading inside to think about the coming days. Once Amber had a proper handle on flight, he wanted to leave and head back to the Mistral Wilds. Specifically, he wanted to check in on his other students, make sure they were alright, then head back to the gravity machine. He wasn't sure if he wanted to bring the others along, but if they'd kept up their training, Once Amber had reached a satisfactory level, Amber would probably go to join Ruby's group at Haven. Gula didn't know what he would do. On the one hand, mastering the basics wouldn't necessarily be the end of her training. Also, the opportunity to deliver Cinder a legendary smackdown was incredibly tempting. However, he had other things to consider. Namely, that his other students were owed more training. And that wasn't even counting the fact that Aspera was still out there. She was too stubborn to die from her injuries and the brutal thrashing they'd given each other made for one hell of a zenkai boost. She'd definitely be back, and Gula needed to be ready.

"This is definitely gonna take a while…" Gula muttered as he sat down in the center of the guest room, legs and arms crossed.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, outside…_

Amber and Pyrrha sat in silence outside. It had been a long day of training for Amber, and it was a lovely moment of peace for Pyrrha. Not a word was said between them for some time, though it wasn't necessarily out of awkwardness. Even if there hadn't been much interaction between them, what with Amber's training (Which Pyrrha could only wince with sympathy with, as well as realize just how much Gula had been taking it easy on them before) and Pyrrha being constantly hovered around by JNR, but there was a definite connection between the two of them, stemming from a common source of tragedy. Both had been dealt grievous wounds by Cinder, including being crippled in one form or another, and both bore the scars to prove it. However, Amber still couldn't help but feel a certain level of survivor's guilt, mostly stemming from the fact that, thanks to Gula, she had a clear pathway to move forward. Pyrrha's injury made the path forward for her much more obscure.

"Do you know what you want to do?"

Amber turned to look at Pyrrha, who was staring up at the sky.

"Hm?" She asked confusedly.

"When Cinder is stopped. Do you know what you want to do afterwards?" Pyrrha asked again. Amber turned her head to look back at the sky. In truth, she really hadn't. She'd been so fixated on training and her goal to see Cinder beaten that she hadn't stopped to consider the future afterwards. What did she do with her new power afterwards?

"I guess, I could start travelling again. Helping strangers, killing Grimm… It seems so mundane now…" Amber replied.

"I'm assuming you've put quite a bit of thought into that same question?" Amber asked. Pyrrha sighed.

"I honestly don't know. For so long, for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a Huntress. I was a prodigy in combat. Now, I might never be able to walk without crutches." Pyrrha muttered, brief crack in her calm, letting notes of stress and bitterness seep into her voice. Her hands clenched in the chair, shaking a bit. Amber wasn't sure what to do. As much as she could empathize with Pyrrha's situation, she'd found an out. Not an easy one, but a straightforward one. Pyrrha didn't have that luxury, at least not yet.

Still, Amber felt compelled to do _something,_ to offer some assurance or comfort. It was just her nature to do so. She gently placed her hand on Pyrrha's clenched fist. It ceased its trembling at the contact, but the tension was still there.

"You'll find your way forward. I believe that." Amber said gently. Pyrrha took a deep breath and her hand unclenched. A ghost of a smile played at her lips.

"I don't know why, but I just remembered the break between semesters at Beacon. Professor Ozpin somehow roped Gula into running a training camp out near a lake. We didn't get to finish it due to…reasons… but during it, Gula pointed out a way of using my Semblance that, while obvious in retrospect, was something I'd never thought of. I was looking forward to thinking of more ways to apply my Semblance and knowledge from Beacon…" Pyrrha's smile dropped a bit.

"That feels so far away now…" She murmured. Amber frowned a bit. She couldn't disagree. Beacon had fallen, Ozpin was dead, the power of the Fall Maiden was in the hands of a truly vile person and the good people who tried to stop it had been and continued to be hurt by all of this.

Amber glared up at the sky, anger and resolve on her face.

Cinder Fall needed to be defeated, and it needed to be by her hand.

* * *

 **And that's where we'll leave it for now!**

 **Creativity: Feels good to have this done. Plus, we have some ideas on where to go next time! Oh, and the plans for Pyrrha. Oh, do we have great plans for Pyrrha…**

 **Author: Oh yeah, I got a feeling people are gonna like that.**

 **One thing that occurred to me halfway through this chapter was an interesting dynamic I could get out of Pyrrha and Amber based on the conditions I've laid out for the story so far. I'll go into more detail on that later, but just to be clear for all of you, I'm not doing pairings yet. Friendships, yes. Not pairings. I'm not going to touch your precious ARKOS.**

 **Well, I think that's about it from me for now! Thank you all for reading, please review, hope to see you in Discord and I'll see you next time!**


	25. Chapter 25

**:Post Completion Note:**

 **So, we happened to get really lucky and this chapter got finished in the last half hour before Christmas, and while there are references and chat about that in the closing notes, I figured it would be remiss of me to not include some not about it here.**

 **So, to end this Post Completion Note, I'll just say have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**

* * *

 **Greetings all! Happy Holidays! So, I decided to crank this out since I had it scratching at the back of my brain for a while and if history is any indicator, this one should be out right quick!**

 **Creativity: Plus, it's a good way to break up work on that Before: KH miniseries, our renewed work on Venom: Resurgence and our new Star Wars project.**

 **Author: I really have gone even more mad than before, haven't I?**

 **Well, the Star Wars one won't run nearly as long as my other stuff, so I'd say we're okay in that regard. And yes, I've done some thinking and planning and it will not run nearly as long. Might do a spinoff or two to flesh things out, or maybe a couple one-shots (Never done one before).**

 **But you're not here for that, you're here for Limit Breaker! But first, let's answer the chapter 24 reviews:**

 **Potassium: Ooh, that bitch of a witch ain't gonna know what hit her.**

 **Guest 1: Sorry. Might have made for an interesting subplot, but I'm pretty sure that those powers can only transfer to Remnant-borne people. Or at least, that's how I understand it.**

 **Guest 2: Hey, when you're mentally and emotionally unstable, it's a pretty precedented response to lash out at something you believe to be the magic save-all button. And yeah, I figured had things gone a little different with Pyrrha at the end of volume 3, Jaune would have gone straight into overprotective mode.**

 **Ben: I'll keep an eye open for your story.**

 **Avenger: Why thank you! I hope this one continues to entertain!**

 **Cbustroyer: I get the desire for consistency, but I think people put WAAAAAAY to much emphasis on it, to the point of lunacy. That's not to say I'll be doing literally whatever insanity I want (though I easily could. I am crazy), but my thoughts can be summed up by one famous movie director's thoughts on the victims in horror/ slasher movies, and why they don't go to the police: "They don't go to the police, because it's boring"**

 **The Apex Predator 01: I'll do just that.**

 **Master-ofmanga: For those of you who don't know who Pavlov is…**

 **Creativity: And that's where we're ending it! We got a chapter to provide!**

 **Author: Right, back on topic!**

 **So, last chapter, we were technically in-between volumes and by now, team RNJR has set out on their quest to hunt down Cinder and co, starting at Haven Academy. Yang is still languishing, Gula and Amber are still training, and Pyrrha… We'll get to Pyrrha soon. Oh, MAN am I excited to share what I've got for her!**

 **Creativity: But before we begin, let's get the Discord password out of the way:** **R23A8zG**

 **Author: And with that, we're ready to begin…**

 **Allow us to proudly present chapter 25 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

It was oddly peaceful in the Rose-Xaio-long cabin. It was almost disconcerting to Pyrrha, though by this point she was just glad to have some more constant peace and privacy. It had given her plenty of time to consider her future without constant interrupts from Jaune or the rest of her team (though it was mostly Jaune, bless him).

When she'd returned from her most recent trip to the hospital to have her injury examined, they'd determined that while it was technically possible for her to walk without aid from a crutch, cane or some other aid was likely to aggravate the muscle and cause her significant discomfort. That had not been the news she was looking for. She hadn't felt as devastated as she'd expected, at least at first. It wasn't until a few hours after the news had been broken that it seemed to sink in. She'd cried for quite some time after that. According to Jaune, it'd been closer to an hour and a half. He'd been extremely reluctant to leave after that, though Pyrrha wouldn't hear anything of it. Among the last things she said to the remainder of her team before they left was ' _You staying behind to console me won't bring Cinder any closer to facing justice. Knowing that you three are out there fighting to stop the monster who did this will do me more good than keeping you here'_ and she'd meant it.

That wasn't to say that she didn't them, or that she was ignorant of the danger they were walking into. However, she knew that Gula had warned Ruby of what she could do, though he didn't name a source. It was safe to assume that he knew the basics regarding the Maidens, considering he was instructing Amber in the strange ways of Ki manipulation, but she also suspected that he'd left the specific nature of the power out of it, instead warning her that she had abilities beyond simple Aura and to exercise extreme caution. Pyrrha had made sure to remind them that Cinder had successfully slain professor Ozpin in single combat, and that to forget that was foolishness.

Her last act before Jaune left though, was to give him a kiss on the cheek before they began their journey. It had been in private, or suspected private (Nora was a notorious snoop and terrible liar) and now they were gone. They'd left a few days ago and their absence could be felt in the house. Aside from the occasional _rumbles_ and _kabooms_ that came from Gula and Amber's training sessions, it was pretty quiet. Another break in the calm had been Taiyang's panic attack when he discovered the letter left behind by Ruby before they left, though that had dissipated pretty quickly. Pyrrha could see that Taiyang knew that he couldn't keep Ruby or the others out of this, no matter how hard he tried. However, she could see that he didn't appreciate her goodbye being in the form of a letter.

Still, the peace also had the secondary benefit of being an excellent environment for Pyrrha to think and plan. It'd taken a while, with lots of thinking, emotional episodes and second-guesses, but perhaps the biggest turning point had been when she finally cracked and finally unloaded everything to Amber in what she thought was private, but it turned out that Gula had been around for a not-insignificant amount of it and asked Pyrrha if could provide his own two cents on her predicament while Amber was doing her best to console her.

" _What do you want to do?" Gula asked. Pyrrha looked at him with her red, tearstained eyes._

" _I want to go back to before I was crippled! I want to walk without a crutch! I want to help everyone fight Cinder!" She'd exclaimed._

" _Well, I can't go back in time, but there are ways to get around the latter two problems, I think. First problem is that you shouldn't put constant strain on the damaged muscle, right? Well, I don't know how to return it to completely normal, but I'm pretty sure you could find something to take the strain off of your feet while walking. Add a staff or some other some other means of support and you should be okay for a decent amount of time." Gula recommended. It wasn't a perfect solution, but Pyrrha had to agree that the idea did have some merit._

" _As for fighting, that I can wholeheartedly provide a solution for. First off, you're never going to be able to fight the way you used to, near as I can tell. So, you need to find another way to fight. Luckily, you've got a surprisingly versatile Semblance you can employ. You can't rely on constant movement and acrobatics, so you need a fighting style that revolves more around slower, minimal movement and can take lots of punishment." Gula recommended._

Which brought her to now. She'd spent plenty of days in her room, emerging only for personal hygiene, meals and to occasionally request politely that Amber and Gula not cause the entire house to shake when they threw energy blasts at each other.

How strange her life had become.

Days she'd spent working on the designs for her future equipment for her new fighting style on a desktop scroll, and now she was finished. She just wanted to run it by Taiyang before she went to Signal to forge it. Amber had also designed her new weapon and the two were going to head there in a few days to begin the forging process. Amber was creating a simple staff, like she'd had before Cinder's attempt on her life. The main differences were that it was longer and could telescope, and it didn't have Dust Crystals set into either side of the staff. There was no need with her new abilities.

As for Pyrrha's new weapon, well, she wanted that to be a surprise. Despite being… less than fond of the circumstances that had brought about its creation, she was rather proud of herself for the designs as she casted them from the desktop to her personal scroll. It would require quite a bit of training and getting used to, but that was negligible when held up on the results she could get from it. It was a proud moment for her.

A proud moment that was immediately dashed when the entire house began quaking. Pyrrha managed to grab the desk to prevent herself from falling over as the tremors stopped before she slipped on a pair of slippers and grabbed a crutch that was sitting nearby and made her way over to the window before opening it to stick her head out. Amber and Gula were floating in the air, arms crossed in front of themselves with Amber trying to shove Gula off-balance while Gula merely held his ground.

"Excuse me, but could you perhaps not shake the house to its foundations? Thank you!" Pyrrha called out politely before she closed the window. However, that didn't stop her from hearing Taiyang's shouting, with the sound of his front door being thrown open as he went outside to try and put an end to the constant shaking, explosions and other such consequences of Gula's training. His _real_ training as it turned out.

It was several minutes of shouting and grumpy rebuttals and dismissals on Gula's part before things calmed down. Pyrrha heard the door close not too long after and multiple sets of feet walking around downstairs. Pyrrha was just glad that the explosion had occurred _after_ she'd finished her new designs for the gear. If something like that had happened during the designing that messed them up, she'd have been considerably less polite when they caused that shockwave. She got up and carefully made her way down the stair, making sure to keep her weight off her injured foot as much as possible. She came downstairs to see Amber sitting on the couch, looking exhausted in multiple forms of the word. Taiyang was striding about throughout the house, doing chores and whatnot while Gula sat in a chair and just glared at Taiyang a bit. Pyrrha just sighed. Both her and Amber were getting a little bit tired of the petty antagonism that underlined the majority of Gula and Taiyang's interactions. From the sound of things, it sounded like Taiyang hadn't quite gotten over the fact that Gula had yet to thank him for grabbing clothes for him. If it wasn't so exhausting to deal with daily, it probably would have been amusing to watch, but as it was Pyrrha found it to be a near-constant source of mild disruption.

"Excuse me, Mr. Xaio-Long? I was wondering if you could look these designs over quickly. I'm pretty confident in them, but I want to make sure I haven't missed anything." Pyrrha requested as she handed her scroll over to Taiyang, who immediately began examining them with an experienced eye. There were a few moments where Pyrrha got a bit concerned when he'd frown or look a bit unsure over parts of the design, but they seemed to pass before he handed them back.

"Well, It's certainly… unorthodox, but I don't see anything that would ruin it. I think you're good to go." Taiyang replied. Pyrrha beamed as she thanked Taiyang and went back upstairs to doublecheck the specs she had written down for her new gear. It would be a long forging process and she didn't want to make it even longer for herself by having errors doing the process.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, far away in a dark domain…_

Mercury and Emerald very rarely knew what to expect from meetings with Salem. That wasn't saying much (or really anything) since they'd only been to two meetings before this. The first one was when Cinder had recruited them to Salem's cause, so that they could be introduced to the rest of Salem's… council seemed to be the closest word that Emerald could think of. They'd also been given their first instructions as subordinates of Cinder directly, and Salem by proxy; to hunt down the Fall Maiden so that Cinder could take that power for herself. The second one was to receive a mixture of praise and scolding from Salem regarding their failure to acquire _all_ of the Fall Maiden's power, though it wasn't a total failure. After that, they'd made their way to Vale to begin preparations to bring down Beacon Tower and track down the Fall Maiden to take the remainder of the power that yet lingered within her.

However, neither of those times had they actually been to Salem's domain. And needless to say, it had left an impression. Watching still partially unformed Grimm beginning to drag their bodies out of the pits with that dark, tar-like substance was horrifying, yet strangely captivating. At the moment, it was mostly Beowolves that were emerging from the pits, but they'd seen Creeps, Boarbatusks, even a solitary King Taijitu emerge from the gunk.

A snapping of fingers was enough to draw their attention back to the meeting at hand. Immediately, Emerald and Mercury returned to the side of Cinder, who did not look very happy. She rarely did in the company of Doctor Arthur Watts, who was currently sitting across from Cinder. Emerald and Mercury didn't like him either. His constant prods and belittling of Cinder and themselves had quickly grown grating within the very limited amount of time that they'd interacted with him, with Mercury have to be held back on more than one occasion by Emerald.

"Yes, please do keep your… _posse_ in check." Watts sniped at them. Emerald used her arm to cut off Mercury as he made to march over to Watts. They weren't really sure how he so easily got under their skin, though Mercury's theory was the moustache.

Still, the managed to tune out Watts' jabs this time, since they indicated that he didn't know the full story of what was going on. Namely, just who in the name of the Gods Cinder had been fighting in Ozpin's old office. Even if he had been nowhere near top shape, Cinder had confirmed that it was indeed the same individual who had singlehandedly annihilated the vast, _vast_ majority of the Grimm that had managed to enter the city. No doubt that Watts had heard of the existence of this… _anomaly_ , but their presence at the Fall? All indication was that he didn't know. And Cinder had opted to withhold on informing him of that, since Watts clearly hadn't bothered to learn all the facts, only fixating on Cinder's failure to secure total and absolute victory; the consequences of that failure being evident on her face. The glass cover fitted over her now empty eye-socket wasn't enough to hide the full extent of her scars wrought by _that girl._ There was more extensive damage, but it was concealed by Cinder's new wardrobe.

Cinder now wore a long, dark red dress with one long, wide sleeve hiding her left arm. The edges of the collar and the opening for the right arm were gold-colored, and the upper chest and left sleeve were decorated with golden designs. The right side of her dress was open from the hip down with two gold-colored straps made up of interwoven ropes connecting the front half to the back half of her thigh. Under the dress, she wore black pantyhose. On the right hip, the dress had carried over an accessory from her old dress; a black rhombus-shaped gem set in a gold-colored metal of the same shape, with feathers of varying shades of blue extending from the bottom of it. On her right arm, she wore a long, gray glove, the top of which has a gold-colored metal ring with curvy branching extensions going up her arm. Her right ear had a new, ring-shaped earring higher up than the dangling black gem earring.

"If I were you, I'd hunt her down… Find her, and then… Well, she took _your_ eye…"

Cinder and her cohorts turned to their right to see one Tyrian Callows, Salem's assassin. Though the more operative word would be hunting dog. The man was deranged and constantly giggling while obsessing over his next murder, unless he was obsessing over Salem. Or both. It was usually both.

Cinder made to respond, but whatever had happened during that fight had screwed up her voice something fierce, so she was left only able to whisper her words to Emerald, who would relay them for her. However, as she began doing just that, and Watts predictably went for another jab, the door creaked slowly open and Salem herself walked slowly into the room, her red eyes with black sclera slowly surveying them all.

Salem's current attire consisted of a very long, short-sleeved black robe that obscured her feet and partially dragged across the ground, complete with a long shawl emblazoned with three interconnected, maroon-colored vertical elliptic sigils resembling a trio of overseeing eyes above a series of maroon-colored diamond emblems. She also wore a ring resembling an insect on her right index finger.

Everyone immediately rose to attention as Salem slowly walked to her place at the head of the table before she paused, her back facing to those assembled.

"Watts." She named the moustachioed man, who suddenly became nervous.

"You find such malignance necessary?" Salem questioned before she motioned for everyone to be seated.

"I apologize ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure." Watts explained, though Cinder knew he wasn't sorry in the slightest. Not really. He was only sorry that Salem had called him on it.

"Then I see no reason for your cruelty towards young Cinder. She has become our Fall Maiden, destroyed Beacon Tower and most importantly, killed dear Ozpin. So, I'm curious; to what failure are you referring?" Salem questioned as she took her own seat.

"Well, the girl with the silver eyes." Watts stated, which immediately had Cinder wanting to raise her hackles, but she restrained herself.

"Yes. We've dealt with their kind before." The voice of Hazel Reinhart suddenly cut in. The giant of a man was something of an enforcer for Salem, despite his distaste for needless bloodshed. Whenever he was sent out as a representative, he always took the path with the least blood spilled. That wasn't to say he wasn't above spilling blood himself when he felt the situation called for it. He could be ferocious in combat, should he decided to get his hands dirty.

"How is a novice was able to best one of us?" Hazel questioned. If Cinder hadn't been having voice issues at the moment, she would have had to bite her tongue to not retort. Besides, it seemed that Hazel was also out of the loop. As frustrated she was with how that fight had ended, she couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when Salem revealed the whole scope of the Fall to them.

"I agree. Even without her new powers, it should have been effortless to…" Watts started, only for Salem to interject.

"It is because of the Maiden's power." Salem stated, causing Cinder to glance up at her master with a hint of surprise.

"Make no mistake, Cinder. You hold the key to our victory. But your newfound strength brings with it a _crippling weakness._ Which is why you will remain by my side while we continue your treatment." Salem informed her. She turned and glared at the table they were all seated at.

"I might also add, doctor Watts, that you seem to have missed something critical in regard to Cinder's apparent failure to seize absolute victory. I don't hold you accountable, Hazel, since you were informed by Watts. You, doctor, do not have such a luxury." Salem told Watts, who shrank back in his seat a little bit. Tyrian giggled a bit at the cowed doctor, while Hazel just grunted a bit.

"So, allow me to illuminate you into some of the recent happenings in the world of Remnant. Specifically, an urban myth that has cropped up in the faunus community, regarding a certain 'Red Warrior', who has been appearing all across Remnant." Salem began. Cinder allowed herself the briefest smirk. At least she got the satisfaction of watching Watts' smugness melt away from disbelief.

"So the story goes that the Red Warrior appears to defend faunus from the humans who would do them harm, wreathed in an ethereal red flame. While there is minimal evidence of this, with two of the three most prominent sightings being foiled faunus trafficking rings, the single greatest piece of evidence lies in the foiling of an attempt to release my hordes into Vale. This supposed 'Red Warrior' appeared in the city from thin air and proceeded to destroy _every Grimm in the city_ in a matter of minutes at most, all while using a most peculiar energy." Salem told them. Cinder knew about the third encounter, having been one of three people in the room to have witnessed it firsthand.

Salem raised her hand and tossed an orb of blood-red energy into the air, which formed into a dark cloud. From within it, bits and pieces of footage of the Red Warrior's show at Vale appeared within the black fog, causing Watts to slump back, Hazel's eyes to widen with surprise, and Tyrian to fall into a sitting position from his previous position of kneeling on the chair, his face one of abject shock. The images capped off with the giant energy beam erupting from the Red Warrior's palms that erased a group of flying Grimm from existence.

"Now, you may be wondering why I bring this up now. Well, as it happens, the Red Warrior was at Beacon that fateful night, when Cinder brought low Ozpin and claimed the last of the Maiden's power for herself. He was wounded, incredibly so in fact, but he still fought Cinder in single combat and nearly bested her, had she not thought swiftly. While I do not believe that this Red Warrior is gone, it would be remiss of us to not acknowledge Cinder's accomplishment." Salem concluded. Watts glared at Cinder before he turned to Salem.

"Do we perhaps have any identification on this Red Warrior? If they are a threat to our plans, I think we should get on top of… _dealing_ with them as soon as possible." Watts inquired. Salem frowned a bit.

"While we do know what he really looks like, we don't have any official information on him, as if there is nothing to be found. It's as if one day he simply fell from the sky." Salem replied. Cinder frowned a bit at the tone that Salem used at the end of that statement. It was a tone that she reserved for when she knew something that the others didn't. Then Cinder's eyes widened a bit. Could she be serious about the 'falling from the sky'?

"Either way, the warrior has vanished, so it's time for us to return to the tasks at hand. Watts, you are to take Cinder's place and meet with our informant in Mistral." Salem instructed the doctor, who grinned beneath his moustache while Cinder glared at him.

"Gladly" The doctor acknowledged.

"Tyrian, you are to continue your hunt for the Spring Maiden." Salem told her assassin, who giggled a bit at the prospect.

"Gladly…" He muttered through the giggles.

"And Hazel, I'm sending you to the leader of the White Fang. Adam Taurus has arranged the meeting. The boy continues to prove loyal. Ensure that Sienna Khan feels the same." Salem instructed Hazel, who merely glanced up from the table before returning his stair to the same spot on the table.

"As you wish." He said simply. It was around this time that Cinder gestured to Emerald, who hurried to her superior's side and leaned over so that Cinder could convey her message.

"Speak, child." Salem said simply, gesturing to Emerald once Cinder had finished speaking.

"She wants to know… What about the girl?" Emerald told Salem, leading to a scoff from Watts.

"What about her? Seems to me like this is Cinder's problem, not ours." Watts jabbed, leading Cinder to slam her fist on the table in a show of frustration.

"That's Enough." Salem uttered as she raised her hand, immediately quelling the conflict.

"Tyrian?" Salem asked her attack dog, who giggled a bit at being addressed.

"Yes, my lady?" Tyrian asked with glee.

"Spring can wait. Find the girl that did this to Cinder…" Salem started, causing Cinder to start acting like a giddy schoolgirl.

"… and bring her to me." Salem finished, at which point Tyrian immediately began to pout, though Salem didn't pay it mind. He was already back to his half-lidded smirk in a matter of moments.

"Thanks to your efforts, Beacon has fallen. And Haven, is next." Salem stated with conviction. Too much had been set in motion now. They couldn't be stopped. Certainly not by a handful of children.

Even the Red Warrior was becoming less of a worry. She'd made a… discovery, recently. One that could prove key to ending that particular nuisance once and for all.

* * *

Gula had a problem.

Well, he had a few problems, ranging from his frustration with his wardrobe, Taiyang's incessant yelling and nagging the moment they went a little _too_ overboard in a training session, Taiyang's nagging about his appetite, the apathetic stares he'd occasionally get from Yang on the very rare occasion that he saw her, the list went on.

However, the top of that list of issues was something that kept arising during the training sessions. Namely, when he and Amber would use mock-spars as part of lessons. Gula had been forced to cut them short more and more recently since he kept running into a problem. Namely, whenever he was go onto the offensive, he'd find himself slipping a bit in terms of control. He remembered bits and pieces of his lunatic fight with Aspera, and the ending of his fight with the GTO. He'd suddenly undergone a massive surge in strength, but also fallen into an unbridled rage that left him mostly just unleashing as much power as he could to destroy an opponent. He remembered the sensations and the way he 'slipped' when that happened, and he could feel it coming on more than once during the mock spars with Amber, hence why he'd opted to cut the mock spars short.

Which was a shame, since they were also good judges of progress, and Amber had certainly made progress. Her flying wasn't shaky in the slightest, she could move incredibly quickly in the air, her senses were sharper, and she'd mastered energy sensing to the point that she could find three mice living underneath the front porch of the Rose Xiao-Long residence. She was struggling a little with energy waves, which Gula believed was more a psychological issue than it was an issue of talent or practice. She didn't have any issue with simple energy blasts or volleys, but waves were something she was specifically struggling with. They were by far the most offensive application of life energy, being an expression of pure force, and that just wasn't who Amber was, mission to destroy Cinder aside.

Of course, that didn't matter if he lost control during a spar, went ballistic and turned all of Patch into a smoking crater.

He needed to figure out what was going on and get a handle on it. He couldn't afford to lose control like that at random. Plus, if he could figure out how to control himself during one of these 'episodes' he could be looking at a very useful tool in battles where he would be otherwise outmatched. He doubted he would have beaten Aspera without it. He'd need that kind of power when she came back, and he didn't know how much time there was until that happened.

Currently, Gula was meditating outside the house, a fair distance into the woods. Amber and Pyrrha were currently at Signal, forging their new weapons, a process that could take quite a bit of time, so he was making the most of the solitude.

There was another thing he needed to consider. Namely, that they were wasting time at the house. Amber was more than strong enough to make the journey to the village and more importantly, to the gravity machine. Gula intended to make the most out of it now. He had a half-way adequate sparring partner now and the gravity training would do her good. Plus, he could spend off days recovering and training up the kids in the town. Once they were strong enough, then he'd take them to the gravity machine.

Assuming _another_ distraction didn't crop up. Those tended to happen with irritating consistency ever since he decided to go visit Vale.

"Now I wonder how different things would have been if I hadn't gone on out to travel." Gula muttered to himself. A lot of things would have been different. He'd probably never have met anyone at Beacon, never had Ozpin poking around his origins, the Breach could have been very different for all he knew. Amber and many others could be dead.

However, there wasn't any more time for his musings. He could sense two energy signatures approaching the cabin, which were obviously Pyrrha and Amber returning from Signal. Gula floated into the air and flew back to the cabin to see the two of them idly chatting while they approached the house. He could see Amber's new weapon in her right hand, propped against her shoulder. It was a mostly black staff with intricate bronze and copper patterning inlaid around the center and both ends of the weapon. Plus, there was its telescoping abilities. However, Pyrrha's new gear was extremely eye-catching and quite the departure from her previous gear.

She was now clad head to toe in thick bronze armor that consisted of several large overlapping plates of triangular armor whose edges gleamed and showed that they were incredibly sharp. There was an extra large amount of triangular plates concentrated on her back, almost too much. However, when Gula tuned in with his energy sensing, he realized that Pyrrha was using her Polarity Semblance to ease the load, though not completely negating it. Clutched in her hand was a weapon that shared a few similarities to Ruby's Crescent Rose, in that it was designed for high powered projectiles at long ranges, but instead of a scythe blade there was a much more sensible spear at the end.

"Well, it seems you've been busy! Mind telling me about it?" Gula called out as he touched down. Pyrrha was grinning widely.

"Well, I needed a more stationary fighting style, and I need to capitalize on every advantage I have, so I came up with this." Pyrrha explained before she planted her spear in the ground. Gula sensed an uptake in Aura activity from her before he noticed that the triangular armor plates suddenly detached from Pyrrha's armor and began floating in the air around her before they reoriented themselves into the form of a massive shield in front of her before they split and shot towards a pile of lumber. The plates sheared their way through the logs with ease before returning to orbit around Pyrrha. Gula was grinning like an idiot as he watched it all. Pyrrha had risen to the challenge magnificently.

"Okay, that's definitely gonna make some poor sap soil themselves. Any other tricks?" Gula asked. Pyrrha beamed.

"Oh, one or two." She replied before she directed a handful of plates down to the ground, where they interlocked together before she stepped onto the platform. Evidently, her feet were magnetized to the platform and she was now _flying around_ on the metal plates. It wasn't terribly fast flying, but it was nonetheless impressive for someone without energy manipulation training.

"You really have thought of everything, haven't you?" Gula asked as Pyrrha carefully stepped off the platform.

"Well, I wouldn't say I've got it down perfect yet. It's pretty tiring to fly for even that small amount of time with all the weight I have with this armor. Still, it's only a matter of training and practice. Plus, I got some help with designing the boots on my armor. They use a special support system to minimize the amount of strain I put on my foot, allowing me to get in more physical exertion before I need to stop." Pyrrha explained. Amber rapped her knuckles on the pauldrons of the armor.

"She went all out on this set. Plus, she was even able to get into the air without the platform. Apparently it takes more concentration though." Amber commented. Gula eyed the armor.

"Well, I gotta say that of the many things I was half-expecting, this was not one of them. I don't know how much training you'll need to go through before you're ready, but you're definitely on the right track. Oh, and just imagine what your team is gonna say when they see this." Gula stated. Pyrrha nodded with a smile, but a steely gaze of determination. Gula had to admire her for her perseverance through this all. However, he had one lingering question.

"Hunters typically name their weapons, right? Does… all this have a name?" He asked. Pyrrha nodded.

"I didn't have a name until the end, but I have a good one. I call 'all this' as you refer to it, as Phalanx." Pyrrha informed them. Gula stopped and considered it for a moment.

"Phalanx Pyrrha… Now that's a good name and title."

* * *

 **Well, that's where we're ending it for today! And oh BOY is this a good time to end it!**

 **Creativity: That's right! As of this writing, we are precisely twenty six minutes away from Christmas Day!**

 **Author: And the chapter number of twenty five corresponds to December twenty fifth! It's almost as if it's destiny…**

 **So, this was my big idea for Pyrrha: her new Phalanx armor. I can sort of get while people won't like this, but I think it's good and it lets her overcome her injury without just throwing in a robot limb. Plus, the ranged slicing stuff is kind of an homage to Penny; a way for Pyrrha to honor the girl she was tricked into killing.**

 **Creativity: Also, Pyrrha's new spear isn't** _ **exactly**_ **like Crescent Rose, but it's similar enough. Also, we couldn't think of a good name for it. We initially thought of calling it Gungnir, but that's Norse and Norse is Nora's thing. If anyone has any suggestions for a good name for Pyrrha's new spear, let us know!**

 **Well, there isn't much else to say here. Thank you all for reading, please review, hope to see you in Discord, and… of course… HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Greetings all, and welcome to the first chapter of Limit Breaker of 2020!**

 **So, I'd had the idea knocking around in my head to do unleash a chapter for you all on the 26** **th** **, since January 26** **th** **of last year was when the first chapter of this story was published, but I didn't even get** _ **started**_ **on this until the 28** **th** **, so those plans are effectively scuppered.**

 **Creativity: Ah, it ain't too big a deal. Besides, we got that little announcement to give!**

 **Author: Oh yeah, that! So, this won't be a surprise to the early readers of this work, but Limit Breaker is** _ **by far**_ **the most read of all my work so far, and recently managed to hit 80K reads in under a year. That is huge to me. HUGE!**

 **So, before we get on with the reviews, I just want to give a big thanks to everyone who popped in to give this story a looksee over the last 365 days. I never thought I'd see one of my stories get that much traction and I'll see you hopefully when we reach that 100K milestone.**

 **Now then, on to the reviews:**

 **Potassium: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to showing off the armor more when the story action comes back into focus. Plus, we finally get to see the main cast doing some fighting instead of just Gula's slugfests. As for the whole Salem Gula thing, trust me. It isn't a problem. You'll see what I mean. As for the Wrathful transformation, just wait and see.**

 **Avenger: Oh, the legendary battle of epicness is creeping ever closer, and I promise that it will be awesome.** _ **Very awesome…**_

 **Guest: Well, I dunno about you, but if I'd gone out of my way to put clothes on someone's back, only for them to complain, routinely empty the fridge and pantry and glower, I'd start feeling a bit antagonistic too. Besides, I'm mostly playing the petty antagonism between Gula and Tai for my own cheap laughs.**

 **And that's all the reviews for this chapter! Yes, I see you Mangahero18, but you didn't leave any reviews on chapter 25. Thems the rules. That I made. Though I will acknowledge there was some good stuff in your reviews.**

 **Creativity: But back to the story…**

 **Author: Right, back to the story! So, when we last left off, Pyrrha and Amber had returned from Signal where they had gone to forge new weapons for themselves, with Pyrrha unveiling her new weapons/armor that she calls Phalanx! Salem has redeployed her forces and is apparently working on a plan to destroy the mysterious Red Warrior once and for all, and Gula's getting impatient to get on the road again, so why wait any longer?! Let us proudly present… The Discord password: R23A8zG**

 **Creativity: well aren't you** _ **ClEvEr…**_

 **Author: Don't you take that tone with me.**

 **Either way, it's now time to proudly present chapter 26 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

 _Three days after the fall of Beacon…_

 _Grassbed village had been in a state of panic when Ash, Ingo, Garrow, Violet and Lila had burst back into the village in a panic of their own, blubbering about a flying ship and Gula being freaked out, which was immediately followed by explosions and columns of smoke rising into the air. Then there'd been the two glowing streaks of light that had begun crashing into each other and throwing bursts of energy at each other before they streaked off towards Vale. The tension that ran through the village for hours after that had been palpable, to the point where it had begun to attract Grimm to the settlement, though their numbers were comparatively low compared to what would have come crawling before Gula's infamous rampages._

 _Then they'd received news, and from Professor Ozpin of Beacon, no less; Gula, though bloody, beaten and unconscious, had been ultimately victorious. Of course, there was undoubtedly concern and insistence to visit when Ozpin's agent broke the news, but that was quickly stopped by the agent in question and the more level-headed among the villagers. Gula would make a full recovery and be back to the village before they knew it._

 _But that was all before the Vytal Festival. Before the champion of Sanctum was tricked into ripping apart an opponent on the field of battle, an opponent that was revealed to have been a machine this whole time. It was before the White Fang and the Grimm descended upon Amity Colosseum and the city of Vale, wreaking havoc in the streets and causing the death of Oum knows how many. It was before the CCT tower collapsed and suddenly the world was left without communications. Now, the tension and fear was far thicker than one could possibly imagine._

 _The Hunters that Gula had trusted to keep the village safe were now more than earning their keep, with Gula's students pitching in where they could. However, that did nothing to assuage the fear of the people. What was going on? When would communications be back online? Would communications_ ever _come back online? Where was Gula? Had he survived? Was he trying to help in Vale?_

 _However, one among them was facing a very different problem._

" _We can't keep going on like this forever."_

" _The hell we can't. It's not great, but we're doing fine. The Grimm haven't made it close to the walls."_

" _There's more of them showing up every time. We're not strong enough to keep this up forever."_

 _This same argument between Ash and Ingo had been going on for quite some time. In fact, it had been going between Ingo and the rest of Gula's trainees for the better part of a week._

" _Look, I'm not sure what else you want us to do about it. The Grimm are manageable so far, and they've actually proven to be good training. We're getting faster and stronger every time we go out there. You've said as much, yourself." Ash pointed out._

" _Yes, I have, but it isn't going to be enough! Oum, how many times do I have to say that?!" Ingo argued angrily._

" _I don't see any evidence for that. Besides, what exactly can we do other than what we're doing now? We can't just do intense training since we need to be ready for if the Grimm show up, and I'm not about to venture into Grimm territory just because you're getting paranoid." Ash shot back. Ingo glared at him._

" _I'm thinking ahead! What happens when the Hunters, you, me, Garrow and the twins aren't enough?! What happens when we can't keep up?!" He shot back in a raised voice. Ash stared evenly at him._

" _Well, we fight to the end. What else can we do?" Ash replied. Ingo shook his head._

" _And we lose that way. No, we need to get stronger faster. Just relying on this little increments isn't going to cut it anymore." Ingo stated. Ash straightened up._

" _Ingo, you better not be thinking what I think you're thinking." Ash muttered lowly, only for Ingo to ignore him._

" _We've got Gula's teachings on harnessing the energy of our bodies. What if we were to add the power of the soul to that?" Ingo asked Ash, who slashed his hand through the air._

" _Gula warned us against that! He told us that to his knowledge, Ki and Aura had never been used in tandem, and for all he knew, that could be too much for someone to handle!" Ash immediately reminded Ingo of, his tone defiant and forceful. Ingo just snorted._

" _By his own admission, he's just making a guess. If we can take him at his word, that is." Ingo replied. Ash's eyes narrowed._

" _Are you accusing him of lying to us?" Ash hissed. Ingo shrugged._

" _It wouldn't be the first time. He spent over four years lying to us, what would one more little detail be? For all we know, he's so strong because he already does have both and just decided he didn't want us getting as strong as him." Ingo suggested. Ash's eyes narrowed._

" _You're heading down a dangerous road, Ingo. And I am not going to follow you down it." Ash growled before he left. Ingo just huffed and spun on his heel before marching away. They had no idea. They just refused to see reason. They couldn't keep waiting for Gula to return, and they couldn't just let their strength continue to increase at this snail's pace. They needed something different. If the others weren't going to see reason, then Ingo would just have to go it alone. He'd be the hero. Not them. No, they didn't have the_ spine _for it. They'd proven that. They weren't willing to do what needed to be done for the good of the village. He would. He'd find the power to protect them all, and he'd do it without Gula._

* * *

"You sure you don't want us to stick around a little longer? I'm happy to stick around to help you train with your new armor."

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary. I've already got enough of a handle on it that I can take it from here. Besides, it's not like I don't have anyone else to train with. Also, I think Gula's going to bust a vein if he's kept cooped up here much longer."

Gula grumbled a bit at the joke made at his expense. Amber was taking longer to say goodbye to Pyrrha than he thought necessary. Still, he'd been polite and patient enough to keep quiet while they bade each other farewell. At least for a while. At this point, they were at tail swishing and foot tapping levels of impatience, which was currently being made the subject of ridicule.

Amber had a change of clothes and other travelling necessities in a bag slung over her shoulder, with her telescoping staff in a sheath that hung opposite the bag. She was dressed for travel in a dark brown undershirt, a deep brown tunic and black pants with brown boots. She'd also had a bit of a haircut, cutting it just short enough to keep it out of her eyes when flying at high speeds.

"Alright, alright. We'll get going. Hopefully we'll catch each other in Mistral." Amber said as she gave Pyrrha a hug goodbye.

"I'm sure you'll find us somehow. Safe travels!" Pyrrha replied as she bade them farewell as Amber turned around. Gula waved goodbye before a transparent aura erupted from his body and he rocketed into the air. Amber wasn't far behind and the two were streaking across the sky towards Mistral. They weren't going quite as fast as Gula wanted (rookie flyer in tow and all) but it was still good time, nonetheless.

They flew in silence for about fifteen minutes before Amber piped up.

"So, where exactly are we heading first?" She asked as she drew alongside him.

"We're heading towards a village in the mountains. I lived near there for a while and before the whole Vale disaster happened I got into a big fight with my sister. Remember that?" Gula asked his student.

"Right. What happened to her, by the way?" Amber asked.

"The hell if I know. I can't sense her energy and she has her own ship, so my guess is that she crawled back into it and flew off. Anyway, before she showed up, I was training some of the village kids in energy manipulation before Aspera cut the lesson short and we fought each other from Mistral to the beaches of Vale, beating each other nearly to death in the process. As I understand it, Ozpin got word to them that I was alive, but I imagine that after the whole Vale thing happened, people are probably a little freaked out, to say the least." Gula answered. Amber raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I was the first person you were training in energy manipulation." Amber questioned.

"And when did I ever say that? I will say however, that you are easily the most advanced of all my students. Before I left, they'd barely mastered the basic energy blast, let alone energy waves. Also, they don't know energy sensing, last I checked." Gula replied. Amber felt a brief bubble of pride before she tamped it down. Likely, they hadn't had daily one on one training sessions for as long as she'd had. Even though Gula had told her she'd taken to this remarkably well, she still didn't think she was that special, especially when held up against she sheer might of her teacher.

"Actually, on that note, don't let them know you have any Aura at all when you land. Also, try not to show off too much. I don't want any infighting or jealousy to start happening when we get back." Gula informed her. Amber shuddered at the thought. The last thing she wanted was to become a source of discord between Gula and his other students.

"Also, and this probably doesn't need to be said, but we should probably keep the whole 'magic' thing under wraps for now. That's a whole other headache I do _not_ have the patience for right now." Gula added. Amber had to concur, if for a multitude of other reasons.

They were currently over a sea of trees when Amber was starting to feel rather fatigued. Gula seemed to have noticed and motioned to land in a clearing. Amber couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy that Gula wasn't even winded in the slightest. It was clear that he could have made it back to the village by now and he still wouldn't be tired, though she quickly tamped those feelings down. Jealousy wouldn't close the gap between them, though she was half-suspecting that nothing would for quite some time.

Besides, relying on pure power would only get you so far. She'd learned that lesson incredibly harshly from her battle with Cinder. By all rights, she'd had the superior strength, thanks to the Maiden powers. However, Cinder and her cronies had managed to outmaneuver her and defeat her soundly, and she had the scars to prove it. A shudder went down Amber's spine as she recalled the sensation of her very Aura being slowly _leached_ out of her body. She unconsciously hugged her arms after they landed and Gula immediately sat down and shut his eyes to meditate.

He'd been doing that a lot lately, now that Amber thought about it. He'd been spending more time sitting stock still with his eyes shut, as if deep in thought far more than he spent training. It had started a few days ago and Amber was starting to get really curious as to what he was doing. However, her curiosity wasn't so great that she'd intrude to ask. At least, not yet. It was probably just some other form of training that he hadn't told her about. Or he was practicing more mental discipline. After all, so far as Amber knew, he currently outclassed virtually everyone on Remnant in sheer destructive power. He didn't need more, at least at the moment. So, why not improve in other areas?

Amber took a seat on a nearby fallen log and grabbed a protein bar out of her bag and idly munched on it while she recovered her strength for the remainder of the flight. Gula hadn't moved since he'd begun meditating. Hell, to Amber's eyes, he hadn't even twitched.

"I wonder what could be going on in your head." Amber muttered under her breath as she finished off the protein bar and stuffed the wrapper back into the bag. Out of curiosity, she decided to tap into her energy sense to see what was going on and was very surprised to see what was happening.

Amber had come to compare someone's energy as a body of water; an analogy she found worked very well regarding the multiple facets of judging someone's energy. Size, temperament, so on and so forth. She'd also come to prefer the use of the word 'ki' over 'energy'. Amber compared her own Ki to that of a pond, while most other people (Hunters included) were more akin to puddles or brooks. Additionally, her ki was generally calm and rarely disturbed, though it would begin to 'boil' when in a combat situation and she was actively drawing on it.

Gula's Ki, meanwhile, was more akin to a lake in comparison, easily dwarfing her own. However, that wasn't surprising. The thing that did catch her was that it's default was more akin to a constant simmer than a true rest, as if constantly straining for battle. Gula hadn't told her much about his own people, the Saiyans, but he had shared that his people lived and breathed battle. Their biology and psychology all tailored towards combat. It had sounded unbelievable when he told her about his people's 'zenkai' boost, but he was dead serious about it and she didn't have reason to doubt him on it. It wasn't like she could disprove it. As it was, she could barely lay a scratch on him to find out.

Amber shook her head. Focusing on the gulf in strength between the two of them wasn't going to get her anywhere. Besides, it wasn't like she was no slouch either. It was hard to tell, given that the magic of the Fall Maiden felt so different from her Ki, but she felt that in terms of power, she was close to our just about at the level she'd been at before Cinder. However, she didn't have the same confidence or sense of invincibility that she'd felt before, something she'd been warned about and thought she'd curbed. Her experience with Cinder had taught her otherwise.

However, despite all that, she was nowhere near her old self when it came to technique. Much to Gula's frustration, she was still struggling with managing a proper energy wave. It was also a source of frustration for her as well, considering she was handling the basic energy blast adequately. She wasn't sure why the energy wave would present such a challenge to her. It was true that of everything she'd been taught so far, the energy wave was the technique she had the least enthusiasm for, by far. She'd much rather be learning more techniques akin to flight or energy sensing; techniques that weren't strictly combat oriented and could be applied to a multitude of situations.

However, as Gula had repeatedly drilled into her head, she needed to have the full repertoire of an adept of energy manipulation, and that repertoire included energy waves. If she came across a hostile energy user that knew what they were doing would absolutely have an energy wave technique, and not being able to manage one of her own could lead to disaster. Gula had repeatedly lectured her that in the event she was unable to avoid an energy wave or, Oum forbid, dodging the beam would have more disastrous consequences than stopping it, she needed to be able to answer with an energy wave of her own.

If they weren't taking this break specifically so she could rest and finish the journey to the village Gula had mentioned, she try to get some practice in now. After all, according to Gula, there were other aliens that were leagues stronger than him out there (a terrifying thought in and of itself) and he had no idea when the next one would come to Remnant with an energy blast primed and a crazed look in its eyes.

"Grrr…"

Amber's musings about the insane world she'd been thrust into were cut short when she heard what sounded like Gula growling. She turned to look at him and her eyes widened in shock. His energy was spiking insanely! It wasn't at a proverbial simmer anymore, either. Now it was easily a rolling boil. His body was surrounding in crimson energy looking more like a raging flame than the typical surging aura when he powered up. Additionally, the veins on his arms were bulging and his hair was spiking up even more than usual, as if an electrical current was running through it.

"Ah, Gula? You alright?" She asked in a raised voice, trying to get his attention. Almost immediately whatever he'd been doing stopped and everything fell back to normal. When he opened his eyes, Amber could have sworn his eyes were fading from a blue color back to their normal black, but she wasn't completely sure.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just doing a little exercise." Gula waved her off as he got up and stretched.

"Ah huh… So, this exercise causes your hair to ascend to new levels of spikiness and your eyes possibly to turn blue?" Amber inquired. Gula shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I've never seen myself in a mirror when it happens." Gula replied matter-of-factly before rolling his right arm around.

"So, you think you're rested enough to keep going?" Gula asked. Amber nodded.

"Yeah, I can keep going. We're, what? Twenty minutes away by flight? I can manage that easy." Amber reported. Gula nodded.

"Alright, let's get going then. I wanna get there before sundown since I know _they_ aren't going to leave me alone until I tell them what's kept me for so long." Gula replied before they both took off.

The rest of the flight was relatively quiet. There wasn't much to talk about at the moment, though Amber was mulling over what she'd seen from Gula before. When she'd used her energy sensing to peer closer at what had been happening, his energy had gone far beyond what she'd initially believed to be his full strength. He'd shown her what his power looked like when he powered up to his maximum and what she'd been sensing was well beyond double, or even _triple_ what she'd believed him capable of. So that begged the question of how he'd done… _that._

However, there wasn't time to ask as Gula was descending towards a village. Amber was surprised to learn that it was a village that she hadn't visited before. If she recalled, it was called Grassbed. It had been on her list of stops, but then she'd run into… complications…

They landed not too far away from the gates, but still within the forested area before walking the rest of the way on the path. Amber didn't say it aloud, but she was glad that they weren't doing anymore flying. She was starting to tire out and wasn't sure how much longer it would have been safe for her to fly. She got the feeling that Gula knew that too, but kept going anyway, either to teach her a lesson or because they were close enough that he was comfortable risking it. Or both. Amber was leaning toward both.

"Alright, let's try to keep chatter about… well, _all that_ to a minimum. Especially the fact that we'll eventually be leaving again. With how scared they're likely to all be after the Vytal Festival calamity, I don't want them freaking out even more than usual. Honestly, it probably won't be a problem. They got on fine before I showed up and they've been fine while I've been travelling." Gula muttered as they approached the gates. Sure enough, the two guards' eyes immediately became the size of dinner plates when they saw who it was that was approaching.

"You… You're…" One of the stuttered. Gula rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm alive, and I'm back. Don't make a scene of it, please?" Gula groaned as they passed the guards. Amber just waved shyly as they passed. They barely seemed to register her existence, so she just kept walking. Well, at least until she heard the whispers, building to mutters, then to shouts of excitement. She wasn't able to make out much, other than Gula's name and a general sense of welcoming and relief.

"You're more of a celebrity here than I thought." Amber quipped to him over the cacophony of the approaching villagers. Gula groaned.

"You fly directly into the village _one time…"_ Gula muttered to himself before he started doing his best to disperse the crowd. It was pretty clear to Amber that he did _not_ like the attention.

It took some time and a few non-answers to questions, some of which Amber was freaking out over a bit since more than one person were assuming that Amber and Gula were an _item_ of all things, which Gula was always quick to shoot down, much to Amber's relief and added insistence that they weren't. Gula was reliable in his own way, but he was also… intense, stubborn and… well, he was completely and utterly terrifying, sometimes intentionally and sometimes by accident. Not always, but when you were aware of who he was and what he was capable of, even if you'd gotten to know him, you were always just a little on edge. Definitely not a good foundation to try to build a relationship on.

Eventually, Gula managed to get the crowd to disperse, sans three boys and two girls who looked to be approximately Gula's age. They were all wearing roughly the same wardrobe, though they came in different colors. Likely it was their training uniforms, which consisted of a shirt that ran down to the elbows, a sleeveless tunic over the shirt, baggy trousers that were tucked into boots, a cloth belt and a pair of fingerless gloves.

"Well, I can't say I didn't anticipate you five sticking around. How's training… been…" Gula started to ask before he stopped. His face hardened. Amber glanced at Gula, slightly worried.

"Clearing. Now." Gula stated before he shot off into the distance. There were looks of confusion between the five youths and Amber, but they followed along, with the youths looking surprised by Amber's ability to follow them into the air. However, they didn't question her about it, likely because they were concerned about what could have caused Gula to order them to head to the clearing where they trained.

The found him there, standing with his back facing away from the and his arms crossed. His tail was swishing through the air, which was an obvious sign of him not being happy. They all set down behind him and waited.

"I imagine you're all curious as to why I told you all to come here." Gula stated in a dangerously low voice. Amber had seen Gula frustrated and grumpy, but now she was realizing that this is what Gula looked like when he was feeling angry and really reigning it in.

Without looking, Gula swung his left hand back and launching a beam of energy from his palm that struck one of the boys in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards! Amber watched horrified as the boy slammed into a tree and slumped down, hand pressed against where beam had hit. Then she saw it. The telltale flash.

"Ingo… you'd better have a damn good explanation for why you have your Aura unlocked." Gula hissed as he slowly turned and marched towards the boy, now known as Ingo. Ingo groaned as he got to his feet.

"Dammit, you actually went through with it…" One of the other boys muttered under his breath.

"What were my specific words when I first offered to teach you energy manipulation?" Gula suddenly barked in a loud voice, making it clear that he wasn't asking anyone in particular.

"Well? What were they?!" He demanded in a louder voice.

" _If we choose to train with you, we forsake the path of Aura…"_ one of the girls quickly managed to get out.

"So, Ingo? Care to explain yourself?" Gula hissed at the boy, who looked at Gula defiantly.

"The Grimm would have overrun us eventually and you weren't here to protect us. We wouldn't have been enough forever. I chose to take a leap of faith to protect the village, and it worked. I'm far stronger than the others now." Ingo argued back. Gula's power flared and a silver aura erupted around his body.

"So, you went behind my back, broke the _one rule_ I laid out for this training, foolishly risked your life, _all for a damn shortcut_." Gula growled as his power kept slowly rising. There was wind blowing around him and Ingo looked genuinely frightened. Amber wanted to step in, but she half suspected that Gula would just go through her to get to Ingo. Suddenly, Gula's fist lashed out, passing mere centimeters from Ingo's head and causing the tree behind him to explode in a shower of bark and splinters.

"You're done." Gula stated before he pulled his fist back and turned around.

"What the hell does that mean?" Ingo demanded.

"It means that I'm not training you anymore. And if I catch you sniffing around when I'm training everyone else, I will not hesitate to kick your sorry ass right back to the village." Gula growled. Ingo looked like he wanted to challenge Gula on this, but the tiny bits of tree were more than enough to discourage him. Instead he stalked out of the clearing and out of sight.

Amber glanced back and forth from between where Ingo had gone, Gula and the rest of the trainees, who looked visibly shaken by what had just transpired. Gula seemed to recognize that as he let out a surprisingly exhausting sigh.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see that, but I needed you to see how serious I am about breaking that rule. I didn't make that rule for no reason. I'm genuinely worried about how much time he has left now." Gula told them, the last statement really grabbing their attention.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'time he has left'? He's not dying because of this, is he?!" the older boy asked. Gula sighed and shook his head.

"His Aura and life energy are mixing together and causing the resulting power to overload his system. When he was flying away I could sense his power going up dangerously high for what level he _should_ be at." Gula explained. Amber took note of this and tried to home in on him with her own senses. It wasn't hard. Ingo was lit up like a bonfire among candles, and now she could see what Gula was talking about. Ingo's power was so great that she could sense actual strain on his entire body from all the concentrated power. Either he wasn't trying to suppress it at all, or he hadn't noticed, and his Aura was constantly reinforcing his body against the internal pressure.

"That cannot be good for his body." Amber muttered.

"Honestly, I'm more worried about what effect it's having on his head. Could be have a literal power trip for all we know." Gula added in a grim tone before shaking his head.

"I knew Vale was gonna have an effect on everyone, but I didn't anticipate this." He groaned.

"Umm… Not to be rude, but can we get introductions out of the way?" One of the twin girls asked and Amber realized that they actually hadn't been properly introduced. Gula's reaction was to just drop his head into his open palm and grumble. Amber rubbed the back of her head, unsure of how to proceed in this situation.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a very long week…?" Gula complained, his voice muffled by his palm. If the prior situation hadn't been such a downer Amber would probably have giggled a bit. As it was though, she just glanced in the direction that Ingo had gone in. She could tell that this wasn't the end with him. She just hoped things would get better, but she wasn't exactly optimistic on the chances.

* * *

 **And that's where we're ending it for today! Finished this on Friday and on the last day of January to boot! Not too bad for timing, if I do say so myself.**

 **So, Ingo's gone behind Gula's back and had his Aura unlocked. I was actually planning this** _ **WAY**_ **back in chapter four, if you can believe it. A years' worth of writing just to get to this point.**

 **Creativity: Like we said, we really planned ahead with this one. Really looking forward to going through with this arc more.**

 **Author: Also, we're probably gonna be doing quite a bit of skimming in regard to the RWBY Story in certain regards, which I'm sure a good chunk of you will love since you don't like this particular set of volumes. I thought they were fine, but whatever.**

 **That said, we are going to have chapter sections where we cut back to Pyrrha and Yang's perspective, since I did not save Pyrrha and give her kickass new armor just to shelve her until the big action scene comes up.**

 **Creativity: That would just be silly!**

 **Author: Indeed…**

 **Well, I think that's it from me for now! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	27. Chapter 27

**/Post Completion Edit/**

 **Completely overhauled the Pyrrha section of the chapter at the beginning. Was rather unsatisfied with it in retrospect and the version I came up with is far superior, in my humble opinion**

* * *

 **Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 27 of Limit Breaker! It's mid-February as we're writing this and we've just finished chapter 24 of Before: KH, so now we get to go a little CRAZY for a while!**

 **Creativity: I thought we already were crazy.**

 **Author: We are, but that's besides the point.**

 **We're working on a ton of stuff right now and we're very excited about all of it! Twilight Blade is coming along nicely, Resurgence is slowly creeping back into my head and we're ever so slowly reaching the point at which my super special project will be ready.**

 **Creativity: And it will be glorious…**

 **Author: But enough about that, you're here for Limit Breaker! But before we get into discussion, let's answer some reviews:**

 **Archer: I dabble in a few. I've been meaning to check out JoJo from the beginning as well as Goblin Slayer, but really I only have the Dragon Ball franchise and Fairy Tail under my belt, and I'm not even through season 2 of Fairy Tail yet. Like I said, I'm a dabbler. Oh, wait! I got No Game No Life too, but I don't wanna write for it.**

 **Raos: This is more my rule for writing super powers, but I always say "Consequences, consequences, consequences!" and yes, I'm perhaps a little too pleased with myself for that Pyrrha rework.**

 **Potassium: Well, I got… how many is it now? Four? Five? Well, it's either of those numbers of projects going on, and since Limit Breaker's chapters tend to be longer, they take longer to write. As for Ingo, doesn't matter what you ask or plead for, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. I will say though, that I never thought of him as a villain. He's a scared and confused kid who already had incredible power but doesn't have faith in it now.**

 **XxHawktalonxX: Things just sort of lined up that way. Like chapter 25 coming out on Christmas day.**

 **Avenger: Only time will tell…**

 **cbustroyer: There's definitely the factor of inexperience, but if Gula was to get his Aura unlocked, he'd get** _ **seriously**_ **messed up. No ifs, ands or buts. Now, as I've thought about it more, it might be a different story if you started opposite of Ingo, unlocking and training Aura first, then adding ki to it, but you'll have to wait for a definitive answer on that.**

 **FallenAssassin9: Good to see you around outside the Discord server! I'd say that an issue of 'being too short' amounts to 'can I get some more'. And yes, you can have some more.**

 **SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Like is said via PM, it ain't Super Saiyan. It's the Wrathful Form.**

 **Hawkeyestratos1996: Like I said above, Gula's already so powerful that if he was to throw Aura in there with his ki, he'd get really screwed up.**

 **Author: And that's all the reviews for chapter 26! Now then, brief story discussion!**

 **So, I'm not sure if I mentioned this last time, but I'll be adding another perspective to the story: Pyrrha's perspective! After all, I did all that work keeping her alive and giving her an overhaul in her fighting style. Ditching her right after that would just be wasteful.**

 **On that note actually, I'm going to spend a little more time with the baddies as well. I've got a few ideas for them that I think you'll like… heheheh…**

 **Creativity: Ooh, boy… he's slipping again…**

 **Author: Now then, before we go further, here's the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Alright, now we begin! We now proudly present chapter 26!**

* * *

The morning air was calm and still. The birds were chirping, the soft whisper of a breeze drifted through the woods.

All of that was shattered by the sound of four gunshots echoing out from the Rose-Xiao Long property.

Pyrrha stared down the scope of her new weapon as she eyed the targets that had been laid out for her. The center of each one had a small, smoking hole in the center of it. Pyrrha smiled a bit as she hefted her weapon and carefully rose to her feet, using her Semblance to support her bad leg. The special braces in her armored boots helped when it came to walking, but she still needed to be careful when getting up, especially from the crouch she'd been in for her sniping practice.

It had taken some time to get used to the heft of her new weapon, Legionnaire. Miló and Akoúo̱ had been much lighter and designed to capitalize on her speed and agility. Since she couldn't rely on that anymore, she needed to rely on what she did have; her strength and her Semblance.

In between training sessions with her armor and weapon, Pyrrha had been undergoing an intense regimen to increase her strength and stamina, as well as increasing the amount of mass she could control with her Semblance. She'd had to be careful with exercising her bad leg, but she could tell that she was stronger than ever, as evidenced by how little Legionnaire's weight and recoil bothered her now. In addition to that, she'd done plenty of practicing with her armor to better master flight. If she was ever in a situation that called for mobility, that was how she was going to do it.

Her two modes of flight, one controlling her armor and the other controlling the razor plates she used for range and armor as a disk, had their own distinct advantages. The plates made for less effort when it came to her Semblance and was easier to control. However, they required more setup as she had to link the plates together and then get aboard. During a pitched battle, she might not have such an opportunity. Meanwhile, controlling her armor directly was more effort, but she didn't have to worry about balance or setup. She just had to lift herself off the ground and she was good.

So, she had to be practiced at using both. She'd even already worked out what situations were better suited to which approach. If she needed to reposition for sniping, it was better to just go straight for armor flight. If she was going to be engaging in melee while in flight, it was better to have the platform. Those were just two of the scenarios she'd trained for. With Mr. Xiao Long's aid, she'd developed and refined her new style as best she could to become a surprisingly mobile, but virtually immovable tank. If she planted herself somewhere and decided that she wasn't going to move, then come hell or high water she _would not move._

 _"_ Hiyaah! Rah!"

Pyrrha paused as she glanced to the side to look at the intense sparring match going on to her right. Yang had certainly come a long way in getting back on her feet after the disaster at Beacon. There'd been a bit of a breakthrough the other day, at least from what Pyrrha had been able to guess from the results of Taiyang and Yang's final spar of the day. Training hadn't ceased yet. Not by a long shot. Yang had promised she wouldn't leave until she _and_ Pyrrha were both ready to set out on the long voyage to catch up with Ruby and JNR, though they hadn't yet disclosed those plans to Taiyang. Still, she suspected that he already knew that was going to happen. The man was no fool.

Seeing Yang throw into the sparring matches with her signature brand of "Yang" enthusiasm. After the many weeks of Yang rarely leaving her room and barely acknowledging the existence of anyone when she did come out for food or to use the washroom, there'd come a bit of a breaking point when the Rose Xiao-Long was paid a surprise visit by Professor Peter Port and Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck.

 _Pyrrha had been asleep when she'd been stirred awake by laughter from downstairs. Despite the exhaustion borne of the day's training, her sleep had been fitful. Training and determination did little to stop her mind from flashing back to_ that _moment; the twang of the bowstring, the breaking of glass and the searing pain that erupted from her ankle. After deciding that she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she wanted to, Pyrrha pulled on sweater on loan from Yang and the armor braces that aided walking and slowly made her way downstairs to be greeted by the sight of Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck sitting in kitchen having an animated conversation with Taiyang._

 _"Ah, Miss Nikos! Wonderful to see you up and about! Simply wonderful!" Oobleck announced in his typical... accelerated manner._

 _"It's good to see you too, Pro... Doctor." Pyrrha replied with a somewhat tired smile. It was pretty late after all._

 _"I see you've recovered enough to walk, and I've heard tell that you've created new weapons and armor for yourself! I must say, I'm rather curious as to what sort of creation you've come up with." Port mentioned, an eager twinkle in his eye. He was one of the teachers that oversaw mandatory weapon maintenance after all, and a weapons enthusiast to boot. Not quite as bad as Ruby was, but it was definitely there._

 _"Well, it takes a bit of time to put it all on so I can't show it to you now, but to give you a hint..." Pyrrha stated before she used her Semblance to open the cutlery drawer and cause all of the freshly dried cutlery to suddenly fly through the air and put itself away. Naturally, this got her a round of applause from her former teachers, who looked rightly impressed._

 _"So, what were you all talking about?" Pyrrha asked once she'd shut the cutlery drawer from where she was standing in the doorway. She then walked over to the table and eased herself into one of the chairs. Taiyang had immediately started trying to tamp down snickers when Pyrrha asked him what they'd been discussing and Pyrrha was both curious and the slightest bit concerned as to what he could be snickering about._

 _"Oh, we were just talking about the pranks me and the rest of my old Beacon team would pull on Qrow. Oh man, I don't think I've even gotten to the best one yet! Okay, so listen to this..." Taiyang managed to get out once he'd beaten down the giggles before launching into the story._

 _Pyrrha wasn't sure how much time had passed since Taiyang began his story, but it hadn't been that long. By this point, Professor Port had taken over the story and everyone was laughing so hard that it was a miracle no one had fallen out of their seats, Pyrrha included._

 _"And then,_ and then, _in comes Qrow,_ wearing a SKIRT!" _Port managed to get out through the laughter, causing Pyrrha's jaw to drop as the laughter was renewed._

 _"I was just a TA at the time! I didn't know what to do, so I just quietly left the room to_ laugh!" _Port finished as the whole group was once more consumed by mirth._

 _"We told him that it was a kilt! He hadn't seen the school uniform yet, so he didn't have a clue!" Taiyang explained as everyone continued to howl with joy at the absent uncle's expense._

 _"You are terrible! TERRIBLE!" Professor (DOCTOR) Oobleck told Taiyang as he struggled to keep from spilling his ever-present coffee._

 _"Hey, all the girls were complimenting him on his legs! If anything, I did that jackass a favor!" Taiyang defending himself, still struggling with his own belly laughs as further shenaniganery ensued as Taiyang went into more detail about what happened after Teacher's Assistant Port had excused himself to get his giggles under control._

 _"Ah, young Xaio-Long! How good to see you up and about!" Oobleck suddenly announced. Pyrrha turned a bit in her seat to see Yang standing just outside the doorway. Port hurriedly picked himself up off the floor as Yang walked in with a small smile._

 _"Couldn't sleep with all the noise?" Pyrrha asked._

 _"Something like that." Yang replied, though there was something in her voice that was keeping Pyrrha from believing that. She'd heard Yang getting up and wandering about the house a few times a week since Yang had started moving around again at all._

 _Yang walked over to the counter and pushed herself up onto it with one arm and a small hop._

 _"So, what are you two doing here?" Yang asked._

 _"Well, strange as it may sound to a student, but teachers_ do _have a life outside of the classroom. We're merely taking some time to rest before we return to continue reclaiming Beacon's former glory with Professor Goodwitch." Oobleck explained before he took another sip from his coffee mug._

 _"So, young Xiao Long, may I inquire as to the efficacy of the new arm?"_ _Oobleck asked, only for Yang to look away a bit nervously._

 _"I... ah... I haven't tried it out yet." Yang admitted as she stared at the ground._

 _"Is that so? I imagine you would have been quite eager to try out such a piece of rare technology for yourself. Unless of course you're worried that your destructive habits will break it?" Port lightly jabbed. That managed to get a small smile out of Yang._

 _"No, it's not that. It's just... Everyone's talking to me about 'getting back to normal', when I just_ can't _get back to normal._ This _is the new normal now." Yang answered, lifting the stump of her arm up to make her point. Pyrrha felt a pang of sympathy go through her, but at the same time she knew that enough was enough. Fortunately, it seemed Taiyang had the same thought._

 _"Maybe that's true, but normal is only what you make of it." Taiyang replied. Yang spun to look at him, her face clouded with sudden outrage._

 _"What, am I supposed to just ignore what happened? Pretend that Beacon didn't happen? Pretend that I didn't lose my_ right arm?! _A piece of me is gone! It's gone and it is_ never _coming back!" Yang snarled at her father, who remained unimpressed._

 _"You're right. Your arm isn't going to come back. You can't just go back to the way you were before. However, you_ do _have a way forward, towards the you that you want to be."_ _Taiyang replied evenly. Pyrrha decided to take this as her cue._

 _"He's right, Yang." Pyrrha chimed in, causing Yang to turn and stare at Pyrrha, looking slightly shellshocked._

 _"More than that, you have a way back that plenty of other Hunters, even students at Beacon don't have access to. You have a way back that I didn't get." Pyrrha reminded Yang as she unconsciously rubbed her calf, the ghost of the arrow haunting her again. Yang looked away, a brief look of shame on her face._

 _"If I can find my way back to the path of a Huntress, then so can you, Yang." Pyrrha stated firmly as she stood up and walked slowly, carefully, over to Yang's side and put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel Yang resisting a flinch, which made Pyrrha want to pull her hand away. However, Yang made no attempts to pull away, so Pyrrha left her hand where it was._

 _"You are Yang Xiao Long. You're my sunny little dragon. You have the strength and the sheer force of will to come out of this even stronger than before, and you aren't alone. We're all here for you when you're ready to stop moping and get back out in the fight." Taiyang told her sincerely. Yang wanted to say something. She was desperately trying to, but the words wouldn't come out._

 _"It's alright to be scared, young Xiao Long. Fear is like any emotion. It comes and goes in its own time. It is what you do in response to that emotion that counts." Port lectured, sounding more like a wise old man than a teacher._

 _"Like how Peter jumps in fear and makes for higher ground at first sign of a mouse." Oobleck shared, which immediately had Port aghast and everyone looking at him with gaping mouths._

 _"They bring nothing but disease and famine!" Port exclaimed, slamming a fist down on the table!"_

Pyrrha smiled as she recalled the long, borderline manic speech from Port about how mice were perhaps more terrible than the Grimm. Of all the things the boisterous professor to be scared of, she would never have guessed mice to be it.

The morning after that little talk with Yang, she'd emerged from the house in a tank top, sweats and a shiny, silver, robotic arm attached to her stump. The prosthetic was indeed a work of art; just as strong as the original limb, capable of channeling Aura, equipped with a fully functioning replica of Ember Celica built right in, the limb was everything Yang could hope for. Pyrrha could only imagine what Ruby's reaction to the synthetic appendage would be.

Yang had drastically improved over the weeks of training. In fact, after watching Yang and Taiyang spar a few times, Pyrrha's instincts told her that Yang was on some level at least, even better than before, though she wasn't quite sure why at first. Then it hit her. It was in the movement and intent. Back at Beacon, Yang would always try to overwhelm Pyrrha with sheer ferocity and brute strength; a tactic that had never gotten her anywhere. Now though, Pyrrha could see Yang employing more careful tactics, thinking a few moves ahead and trying to sneak around her opponent rather than bulldoze them.

"Alright, I think that's good for today! I'm going to head inside and start on dinner." Taiyang called out to Yang as he went inside to do just that. Deciding that she'd done enough training herself for the day, Pyrrha walked back to the house and used her Polarity to decouple Phalanx from her body, leaving her special undersuit, which made it easier to attach and detach Phalanx to. The armor gathered together as it levitated behind her like neatly folded clothes as she walked back to the cabin.

"So, do you know when you're leaving?" Pyrrha asked Yang, who was toweling sweat off her face and neck.

"Tomorrow, probably. I'm all packed, I've gotten used to the arm and I've got a plan." Yang replied before they both started walking back to the house.

"Are you coming with?" Yang asked Pyrrha, who nodded.

"I've been ready to go for a while, but I knew I couldn't leave without you. Besides, I'm not used to levitating for long periods of time with Phalanx, so it would probably be a good idea to have someone around to look out for me in case I accidentally overdo it." Pyrrha answered. Yang smiled.

"Yeah, that's probably a good call. So, how much ground do you think we can cover in a day, once we reach the main land?" Yang asked with a grin that had Pyrrha a little bit nervous.

"Um... I'm not sure. Why?" Pyrrha asked. Yang's grin only widened.

"Because at this rate, Ruby and the rest of your team are going to reach Mistral before we do, and that is unacceptable."

* * *

Something was up.

Cinder knew that Salem was keeping something from the whole of her allies, and she was willing to put a good deal of lien _and_ her Maiden powers on it being related to this mysterious Red Warrior that had gotten in her way. That infernal Faunus had been taunting her in her dreams, right alongside that _damned girl._ The former had matched her in single combat while incredibly wounded, and the latter had stripped her of an arm and an _eye._ Cinder couldn't recall a time when she felt more despair, rage or humiliation than when she woke up in her mistress' domain to find a bandage wrapped over her left eye and even more wound tight over the stump where her left arm had been! And on top of that, she'd been robbed of her voice. _Her voice._

It was on the mend, slowly but surely, and Salem had seen fit to do something about her arm, but that still didn't change what had been _done to her!_ She was a servant of the most powerful being on Remnant! She was the _Fall Maiden!_ How could a freak of nature and _a little girl_ bring her low like this?!

The worst part of it was that Salem fully believed that this could easily happen again, and hinted that she had _expected_ this to happen, at least when it came to _the girl_. It infuriated Cinder to no end.

And now, she was being kept out of the loop. To be fair, Watts, Hazel and Tyrian were also as in the dark about their mistress' new plans regarding the flying, energy shooting, monkey-tailed wrench that had been thrown into their carefully assembled scheme. Cinder wasn't surprised that Watts was being kept out of the loop. On the _very_ off-chance that he was discovered, Watts would probably be the quickest to crack under interrogation. Watts was a force of nature when he was in control of a situation, but the moment he wasn't, or at least believed he wasn't, he'd crumble. Hazel was effective, surprisingly so, and he knew how to keep his mouth shut, but he wasn't nearly loyal enough to Salem to be given that information. He always accomplished Salem's tasks as specified, but he'd often do it in his own way. Tyrian was loyal, that was without question. He was feverish in his devotion to Salem and would likely tear out his own heart and eat it if Salem asked him to. However, he was also loose-lipped and, well, completely and utterly insane. Not exactly a person you'd want to entrust that sort information to.

However, aside from her failings at Beacon, which Salem had publicly and privately forgiven Cinder for, Cinder could not think of a reason why she was being kept out of the loop regarding Salem's plans for this anomaly.

Well, that wasn't quite true. Cinder had seen the look on her mistress' face whenever she was asked about the Red Warrior in any capacity. Cinder had seen it on very rare occasions, but it had been there. Salem knew something and was deliberately withholding that information for a big reveal. Cinder's taste for theatrics hadn't come from just anywhere, after all. Salem always took a certain level of delight in her flair for the dramatic.

It didn't make Cinder any less frustrated with her, though. She was careful to not let herself feel that way when Salem was handling her daily 'treatment' to bring her voice back and handle her new appendage. Salem undoubtedly knew about it, but Cinder knew that letting her emotions hamper her progress would only displease her, and that was the last thing Cinder wanted right now. Better to reserve such emotions for training and battle.

It wasn't like there was much time to speak to Salem regarding these secrets, anyway. Salem was spending as much time as she could in her private laboratory. Cinder shuddered as she recalled the few times she'd been down there. The most recent time was to help sort out her dismemberment. The laboratory was deep in the depths of Salem's castle and was more like a horrid fusion of torture chamber, dungeon and ill-maintained morgue. There was a black pit of dark essence that constantly frothed and bubbled in the center of the room. Salem used that pit for experimentation; creating new Grimm, testing new applications for the pitch-like substance, enhancing already existing Grimm, so on and so forth. Cinder remembered when she'd first seen Salem's private laboratory. She'd been about fifteen years old and Salem had been in one of her moods. Specifically, the one where she was equal parts angry and happy. These were often brought on by anger at an individual, combined with glee at being able to make them suffer.

In this case, it had been a woman in her mid to late twenties that had been shackled to a slab of dark stone on the wall. She'd started shaking with terror when Salem had walked in. Cinder had never learned the woman's name; only that she'd served as a sort of spymaster for Salem in Vacuo, until something went wrong. Cinder learned that either, only that it had resulted in Ozpin's secret club discovering the identities of at least three of Salem's agents that were operating in the region, and that the subsequent events had involved one capture, one kill and a suicide. Apparently, the spymaster hadn't been doing a very good job of endearing herself to Salem before this, so Salem opted to make an example of her.

It hadn't been pleasant to watch. In fact, it was an event that Cinder still had the occasional nightmare about, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone. Salem had, for want of a better term, 'fed' the woman to the bubbling black pit in the center of her laboratory, and then _something else_ came out. Cinder later learned that it was in fact an Apathy, one of many more 'humanoid' Grimm that Salem had been experimenting with over the centuries. She technically didn't need humans to make them, but Salem insisted that taking human essence and using it in the process made for a far more effective creature. Apparently, all the 'upper ranking' humanoid Grimm had involved human sacrifice during their creation. However, Cinder didn't really believe that Salem _actually_ needed humans for these special Grimm. She'd seen her mistress create far more terrible creatures without sacrifice. No, she just did it this way for fun.

Cinder shuddered before she chased such thoughts from her head. They always seemed to crop up when she came back to the land of her mistress, and it was unwise to dwell on them. It made the Grimm get… antsy.

Cinder wasn't sure what was going on in Salem's laboratory, but given how Salem had been behaving in the spare moments that she'd emerged from the room, Cinder knew that it was going to be something big. Perhaps some new form of Grimm? A weapon of some kind? If Cinder was lucky, it would be something she could use to prove that, barring her mistress, she had no equal in this world. Hell, she'd settle for just getting her damn _voice_ back.

Speaking of which, it was almost time for her to head to the council chambers for the day's treatment. She turned a corner and saw Emerald already waiting obediently at the door. Seeing Emerald waiting for her dutifully filled Cinder with equal parts gratitude and humiliation. On the one hand, she at least had someone she could rely on to speak for her at meetings, so she wasn't relegated to suffering in total silence, or having to deal with sign language while one of her arms was… misbehaving. On the other, it was utterly humiliating to have to speak to the others through Emerald, even more so when she had to deal with Watts' barbs and prods. If he wasn't so useful, Cinder would skin him alive in front of Salem before she cauterized his entire body, for all the good it would do him.

Cinder gave Emerald a curt nod before pressing her right hand to the door and pushing. The magic of the castle did the rest and the doors swung into the room before Cinder strode inside and took a seat next to the Grimm queen's throne. Emerald waited a respectful distance away, hands clasped in front of her as she waited for Cinder's gesture to approach. Minutes later, Salem walked into the room, stepping serenely to her throne before she seated herself on her throne.

"Now then, have you been keeping up with the exercises?" Salem asked without preamble. Cinder nodded wordlessly. Salem smiled a little bit.

"Good. I'm not expecting immediate results, but they will most certainly assist with your rehabilitation. Now then, let us begin." Salem stated before a blood red sigil appeared in the air, in the image of Salem's 'eye'. Salem gestured to Cinder's left arm, which was currently laying on the table. Cinder winced as the sigil moved and enshrouded her arm. Immediately the roiling, _twisting_ sensation began on the left side of her torso and neck. She could _feel_ squirming around her heart, but she'd learned through experience to push through the discomfort. Instead, she grit her teeth and remembered what her mistress had taught her. This arm was _hers._ It would _obey her,_ one way or another. She ignored the way she could feel her innards twisting and turning. This act of rebellion would be quelled once the arm had been fully melded to her and she'd remastered its motor skills. And once she'd done that, she could begin her training in earnest in preparation for the toppling of Haven and claiming the Spring Maiden's power. And once she was done with _that,_ she was going to make a point of tracking down _that girl_ so that she could take her time burning those damn eyes out her head, and she would damn well cackle like a witch while doing it.

* * *

It was about six in the morning, by Amber's estimate. She didn't have a clock on hand to check, but she could assume by the way her eyes cracked open blearily, as she had done ever since she accepted Gula's offer to train her. If she wasn't so used to it by this point, Amber would have cursed Gula for forcing her to get up at this ungodly hour for training. Instead, she was just resigned to it and got up before pulling on her training clothes and stepping out of the room she was renting in Grassbed for the last two weeks. Well, it was more like Gula was renting… sort of… All she knew about the situation was that there was a freak Dust accident and Gula had helped to rebuild the inn, so the owners gave him special privileges when he was staying as thanks.

As she shook off the sleepy cobwebs on the way to the clearing where Gula trained her and the others. The telltale _snap_ of a branch underfoot indicated there was someone behind her. She didn't bother turning around. She'd sensed them on the way to the clearing some time ago.

"Hey, Ash. How'd you sleep last night?" Amber asked. The fellow trainee shrugged as he pulled up alongside her.

"It was Alright. I managed to get to bed early last night. It's been difficult to get to bed with Gula always on the move during the night. I swear, I don't know how he gets enough sleep to handle training us, training himself and do those patrols he keeps going on." Ash muttered as he rubbed his eye tiredly.

"It's one of life's great mysteries. Like how he can somehow consume more than his own _body weight_ in one sitting." Amber muttered before they reached the clearing. Gula was already there, meditating again. He was sitting cross-legged and cross-armed as sparks of red energy leapt from his body and the veins on his arms and forehead bulged. Amber was a little concerned by whatever he was working on, but she knew better than to bother him about it. Besides, he probably sensed them already and was just waiting for the others to arrive. It wouldn't be more than a couple minutes. Amber could sense them approaching.

"What's with those patrols, anyway? No one's come near the wreck since it became a wreck." Ash asked as he started doing some stretches to warm up.

"I think he's just worked up, what with the whole _Vale_ thing, the wreck and worrying about Ingo." Amber replied. She wasn't really lying, but it wasn't quite the truth either. She knew very well why Gula was doing these patrols; it was because he was genuinely scared, which was in and of itself terrifying.

" _Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a very long week?"_

 _Amber glanced at Gula sympathetically. It wasn't exactly the start to his return home that either of them had been expecting. However, that didn't mean they couldn't salvage it._

" _My name is Amber. Gula saved my life and he's been training my on the road." Amber introduced herself, hoping to take some of the attention away from Gula so that his trainees wouldn't pester him. Plus, it had the side benefit of getting introductions out of the way._

 _She'd just gotten the names of the twins, Lila and Violet, when Gula suddenly let out something between an enraged bellow and a terrified shriek. Immediately, everyone rushed over to Gula, expecting some horrible tragedy. Instead, they were treated to the image of Gula staring at a pile of wreckage, glaring at it while his chest heaved up and down. The others looked confused. However, Amber recalled what Gula had told her, regarding the circumstances of him joining her in the 'near-death' club and felt a chill go up her spine._

" _Ummm… What was that all about?" Lila asked hesitantly as she examined the wreckage._

" _How long has this been sitting here like that?" Gula asked with hints of hysteria in his voice._

" _Uh… since it got here? I think it got destroyed before you disappeared." Garrow answered. Gula just stared at the wreckage for a moment before a red aura erupted around his body and he suddenly rocketed off towards a nearby mountain range._

" _What was that all about?" Ash asked._

" _I have an inkling as to why he's upset. Why he's going to the mountains, not so much." Amber replied. The group just stared in silence off in the direction that Gula had flown off in._

" _So, are you a Huntr…" Violet started to ask before they heard something in the distance. It was a bit faint, but it was definitely there._

" _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!"_

In retrospect, hearing Gula's scream when he discovered that someone (who he greatly suspected to be his sister) had apparently been rifling through his stuff, and possibly sleeping in the cave he'd been calling home for his time on Remnant was actually pretty funny. However, the bit that had Gula (and her) on edge was that, if his assumption was correct, Gula's sister was possibly wandering Remnant, completely unchecked. According to Gula, she was much stronger than he was. He'd only won because he'd tapped into some other power that had turned the tide in the battle.

Wherever she was, neither Gula or Amber could sense her and without the CCT, they wouldn't be able to get news of any potential sightings of a terrifyingly powerful monkey woman causing havoc across the nation. So, all they could do was train, with Gula alleviating some of this stress with his patrols, even if he never detected so much as a speck of energy that wasn't already accounted for.

Gula was convinced that Aspera was going to seek him out again to fight, and while Amber wanted Gula to be wrong, if what he'd told her about his people was true, then it was practically an inevitability, especially considering what she'd been told about Saiyan sibling relationships. Hence, why Gula was behaving so vigilantly and was pushing his own training to extremes that had Amber convinced that Gula was indeed insane. Just the other day, he'd launched an attack she'd never seen before into the air; twelve blasts that fired from Gula's hands simultaneously. They'd shot straight into the air, then peeled off and shot straight back down and slammed into him with a terrific explosion! She'd made it a point to avoid him when he was doing his private training. Calling it hazardous was putting it lightly.

"Sorry! I hope we're not late!"

Amber turned around to see Garrow and the twins emerge from the foliage.

"I think you're fine. Gula's just in the middle of… something. I'm not sure what." Amber replied. It was about at this point that Gula stopped sparking and came out of whatever trance he'd been in and slowly rose to his feet.

"We're going to be taking your training up a level today. Follow me." Gula stated before he suddenly took off. After a few moments of confusion, they took off into the air after him. He had a head start on them, but it wasn't that hard to follow him. He wasn't going too fast and he was deliberately casting off more red aura to make it easier to follow him.

Eventually, they reached their mysterious destination, which turned out to be an ancient machine of some kind. After they landed, they saw Gula flying around the machine, presumably making sure that it was still in good shape.

"What do you think this hunk of junk is?" Garrow asked as he knocked on it with the back of his knuckles.

"I have no idea, but it looks old. Really old." Violet commented as she examined a few of the markings on the side of the machine. Amber joined her and eyed the markings carefully. She'd was sure she'd seen these markings somewhere before, likely in a book. She just couldn't for the life of her remember where.

"This machine generates a gravity field, making anything inside that field experience a higher level of gravity than normal." Gula explained as he finished his inspection of the machine. Satisfied that it hadn't been tampered with, he went up to the machine and motioned for everyone to step into the area of effect.

"We won't be using this setting every day, since it takes time to get used to. Alright, brace!" Gula called out to them before he started slowly adjusting the gravity level, monitoring the energy levels of his students before he found just the right level of effort.

"Alright, let's start. We won't be adding any additional weights _yet,_ but they will come eventually. But first…"

A small grin began to creep across Gula's face before a transparent, silvery aura erupted around his body before he cracked his neck.

"These first few days will be spent acclimating you to increased gravity, specifically your speed and reflexes. And what's the best way to do that?" Gula asked as his grin widened.

"Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it…" Garrow begged under his breath. Amber was right there with him as she hoped and prayed that against all odds, Gula wouldn't say it.

"Combat 101. DODGE!"

And with that last bellow, Gula shot forward, getting a cry of alarm from all the trainees, who immediately powered up to counteract the gravity and bolted to avoid Gula's rapidly approaching fist. Unfortunately, the gravity was a bit too much for them to rely on flying right now. Instead, they had to stick to leaps, pivots and footwork to avoid Gula's strikes.

Amber yelped in surprise before she went into a backbend to avoid an energy blast that passed just over her nose before the gravity tugged her off balance. Spinning onto her elbow to roll out of the way of Gula's foot landing right where she'd been standing, she on her back and managed to launch herself off the ground with a one-handed shove, spinning away before she landed on her feet. Luckily, Gula was otherwise occupied with making Ash cry as he was jumping out of the way of a stream of energy blasts. Gula's attention quickly turned to Garrow and Lila, who noticed that Gula was eying them with a gleeful gleam in his eye.

"HEEEEEEELP!" They both shouted before Gula shot towards them, throwing punches and kicks that would undoubtedly leave more than a few bruises. Suddenly, Gula vanished. Amber's eyes widened before she immediately began checking for his energy signature. She was more mad that she hadn't been doing that already.

Almost immediately, Amber could detect Gula's energy… right behind her…

A swift kick to the back sent her tumbling through the air before she managed to right herself as Gula was hurtling downward, fist poised to strike! Amber jumped out of the way, but now she had the problem of a red energy sphere of pain whistling towards her. She managed to glide out of the way, but the blast still struck Violet, who had also apparently been in the line of fire.

In short, they were getting destroyed. Not exactly surprising, as this was what typically happened in a Gula training session that wasn't practice or one on one sparring with someone who wasn't Gula; get knocked about like a beach ball and hope that his attention shifted to one of the other four beach balls that were getting batted around.

Eventually, and inevitably, they were all sprawled around the floor of the gravity machine, groaning in pain. They'd lasted about five minutes; about half as long as they could have, or at least with fewer injuries. Gula didn't seem phased by this. It wasn't exactly surprising. The increased gravity really was making their training that much more difficult, but it would hopefully get better once they acclimated to it.

Which they'd likely have to do very quickly, as Gula had _that gleam_ back in his eye.

"WHO SAID WE WERE DONE?!" He thundered before he lifted both arms up, energy spheres materializing in his palms.

"SCATTER!" Amber yelled desperately before they all bolted, just in time for the blasts to detonate where'd they just been catching their breath! Gula was howling with laughter as he began his rain of pain and despair once more. Amber really hoped that this training was worth it. As it was, this was slowly turning from training into Gula's stress relief. Although, considering how high-strung he'd been ever since they got back to Grassbed, maybe some stress relief was exactly what he needed. She just wished it didn't come in the form of chasing them around, firing energy blasts at them that promised pain.

Finally, Gula decided to stop with this exercise, and they transitioned into practicing ki basics; powering up, flight, energy blasts and waves, though no energy sensing. Gula hadn't taught the Grassbed teens how to do that yet, and Amber had kept quiet about her own knowledge of the technique.

As per usual, Amber was still struggling with the energy waves. Charging was fine. She could gather more than enough energy and concentrate it for the blast. She just couldn't maintain the beam when she fired it, and no one was more frustrated by this than her. She'd studied his physical form and the way his energy behaved and for some reason, she just couldn't get it. Whatever was blocking her, she couldn't for the life of her figure it out.

Eventually, it all came to an end and Gula deactivated the gravity field. The sensation when the field vanished was strange. There was an odd weightlessness that had them walking (and flying) a bit strange. The flight back to the village was quiet and uneventful. They were still battered and exhausted from the training after all. Or rather, the warmup. Gula was going to let them have breakfast and rest for an hour or two, then they'd start going over technique again.

After that, it would be what one of the academies referred to as 'a free study period', wherein they were free to train however they liked, so long as it was training. That could be anything from developing their own techniques, meditating, sparring with each other or any other number of things.

Obviously, Amber was trying to overcome her problem with energy waves, though she began with meditating. If the block was psychological, then meditation was probably the best place to start. However, she also made sure to monitor energy signatures, reaching her senses to the village and past it. Then, something caught her metaphorical eye; a massive bright spot, isolated in the forest opposite them.

It was undoubtedly Ingo, likely continuing to train on his own. Amber frowned sadly when she thought about Ingo. She'd known him for barely five minutes and now he was bubbling with resentment for her. Well, it wasn't specifically her, but she was in the crowd.

Ingo hadn't been handling Gula's choice to kick him out of training very well, and Amber had a feeling that Gula wasn't handling it very well either. However, Amber wasn't sure how to try and mend their relationship. After all, even if Ingo decided he'd made a bad call by going behind Gula's back and getting his Aura unlocked, it was still unlocked. You didn't just go back on that decision. Normally, that wasn't an issue for people, since who didn't like quick healing, shields and a special power unique to them? However, given the… unique situation that Amber and Ingo were in, reconsideration was far more important.

She'd seen it in Ingo's eyes. His fear of not being strong enough to protect the village; of being forced to watch as the Grimm overran it. She couldn't imagine that ever happening, what with the powers at the village's disposal, but she'd thought that of Vale once, and there they were.

Even worse, tensions between him and the other teens were now strained as he saw them as cowards, idiots and had even heard the word 'sycophant' float around, though she wasn't sure how exactly it was applicable. Point was, he felt betrayed by not only Gula for kicking him out, but by no one else for sticking up for him.

And then there was Gula. It wasn't hard to see that he'd taken personal offense to Ingo's decision. Setting aside that he'd expressly forbade them from doing what Ingo had done, the biggest thing that had Gula pissed was that Ingo had taken the quick and easy route to power in his fear and confusion. While he could hold some sympathy for the fear and confusion, he still had lost a good deal of respect for Ingo. Even if it was hard to tell at times between Gula's blunt attitude and the way he knocked them around, he did respect all of them for the fact that they were not only sticking with it but improving. However, Ingo had lost that when he had his Aura unlocked.

All in all, it was a mess. The worst part of it was that, while Ingo's body seemed to be slowly adapting to its unbridled power, he still was filled with too much energy; literally too strong for his own good. Amber worried that tragedy could be waiting and despite Gula's alien psychology, she knew that it would bother him for the rest of his life if they didn't at least try to patch things up.

It would have to start with Ingo. Much of Gula's ire centered around Ingo's ongoing refusal to back down from his decision and an apology from him would likely quell most of Gula's anger. It would be more difficult to get Gula to apologize for _how_ he went about ending Ingo's training, but she was confident that, if done carefully, she could get Gula to see reason. She hoped. With Gula, she couldn't be sure.

Well, that was a conundrum for later. For now, she had an energy wave to figure out. She had the power and she had the knowledge.

Now she needed to put it to use and master this technique. Gula had given her a second chance to fight; a chance to avenge not only herself, but everyone who had suffered at the hands of Cinder. She wasn't about to let Gula down and waste that second chance.

* * *

 **And we're done! So, a few perspective shifts in this chapter, but I really enjoyed it! Plus, I got some nifty ideas for some Aura stuff in future…**

 **Creativity: Bit of postproduction trivia, we were initially planning to have the Cinder section set from Salem's perspective, but we decided to go with Cinder's to preserve a certain air of mystery over Salem's plans. And also to give you that mild body horror scene. You're welcome.**

 **Author: So, this was hinted at with the Pyrrha thing, but I'm looking to expand the scope of Aura a bit, and to that end, I'm probably going to have a few more chapters where Gula will** _ **not**_ **appear as a POV, even if he is in the chapter. Reason being is that, aside from the strain between him and Ingo, there's just not a whole lot to do with him right now, aside from reacting to stuff, and we don't need his POV to do that.**

 **Aside from that, well… I got a few ideas… hehehe…**

 **Creativity: I got a feeling you all are going to like where we're going with this.**

 **Author: Well, that's about it from us! Time to sign off for now!**

 **Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Post Completion Edit: So, I've decided I'm a bit dissatisfied with how I wrote the Pyrrha chapter, so I've decided that I'm going to make adjustments and so forth to change it to something that better fits the story. I'm not sure when those changes will be implemented, but they'll probably be there before this chapter. Hopefully. We'll see.**

* * *

 **Alright, back to your regularly scheduled chapter!**

 **Good day all, and welcome to chapter 28 of Limit Breaker, and episode 1 of me staving off cabin fever in between the brief moments of respite, found in online lectures.**

 **Creativity: Maybe we shouldn't try to be funny about this…**

 **Author: Yeah, that'd probably be in bad taste…**

 **So yeah, we're joining the rest of the world in self-isolation until this whole mess is finally cleaned up or at least under control. And during that time, in between finishing the current college term, we'll be doing our best to provide entertainment and distractions from the crazy world outside. I won't be offering my own advice on the situation, other than doing what you can to stay safe and healthy while stuck inside and be prepared for what's coming after. Because make no mistake, things are going to** _ **change**_ **because of this, and we need to be braced for that.**

 **Creativity: But enough about the depressing stuff.**

 **Author: Yeah, that's not why we're here. We're here to distract from all this unpleasantness! So, let's start by answering the reviews:**

 **Raos: I don't think it'd be a spoiler for me to say that Cinder vs Amber is going to definitely happen. As for what's going on with Salem, she was definitely doing work on the Grimm arm, but there might have been other stuff going on. Who can say? As for RWBY and the JNR of RNJR learning ki, I thought I nipped that in the bud a while ago. Sorry to say, it isn't going to happen. That's not to say they won't get ki adjacent training, but actual ki training? No. As for where Gula came from, I didn't base him on any other character. At the beginning, I wanted to have him be more Saiyan like but have some self-loathing about it, but I sort of junked that as time went on.**

 **Avenger: Just wait until I get to the** _ **real**_ **insanity. It's going to be something else…**

 **Guest: I'm not going to give you a set time for it, but I have left clues as to where we generally are in the timeline. Actually, they're in the chapter you mentioned. Bit of research and math should do the trick.**

 **Potassium: I understand personal preference, but I think you're only viewing Ingo as just a generic villain. Yeah, I'm definitely making him frustrating and playing up that he's not above being petty, I'm also trying to remind everyone that he** _ **is**_ **a kid, who's dealing with the fact that someone he once viewed as practically invincible having gotten their shit kicked in, followed not long after by everything that happened at the end of Volume 3, so when he makes some poor decisions and, like a teenager, has trouble processing why he got punished for them, or does understand but is determined to not back down from them. There's other stuff going on with him, but that's coming later.**

 **So, last chapter was a slower affair, letting everything settle in, adding two perspectives to the story, and a bit of training to cap it all off. So, naturally we're going to pick up the pace a little more this chapter. What does that mean? Well, you'll just have to read and learn! Which you can do in but a moment. But first, here's the Discord password:**

 **Now then…** _ **Ahem…**_ **Allow us to proudly present chapter 28 of Limit Breaker!**

* * *

" _You want us to do what?"_

" _You heard me the first time."_

" _Yeah, we heard you the first time. Still gonna want to hear it again though, because it sounds like you said…"_

" _I_ said _I want you to unlock my Aura."_

 _Ingo did his best not to glare at the Hunter team that he'd approached to request aid in finding new strength, though his frustration was making that difficult. He had to remind himself of why he was going to them at all and that getting angry this quickly wasn't going to make convincing them to help him._

" _Right, you want us to unlock your Aura. Well, why don't we just get on that and unlock the Aura of everyone here while we're at it? You know that you don't just_ get _your Aura unlocked, right? There's a process to it, and I'm not just talking about the actual unlocking." The Huntsman in red replied sarcastically. Ingo once again had to keep himself in check. He needed their help and getting angry wouldn't speed things up._

" _I don't have time to go through the paperwork. Besides, with the CCT down, sending in a registration would take weeks, maybe even months." Ingo replied._

" _Kid, you realize that there's a_ reason _that not everyone gets their Aura unlocked, right? If everyone was running around with a Semblance, the world would look like the apocalypse came, went, stopped in for some coffee and left again!" Red argued back. Ingo opened his mouth to retort, only to be cut off by the Huntress in blue._

" _Besides, we already got paid a visit by Gula and he said that you guys were not to have your Aura unlocked under any circumstances." She added. Ingo let out an angry growl and spun around while throwing his hands in there._

" _Of course, he bloody did! Why wouldn't he?!" Ingo shouted angrily before he took a few breaths to calm down._

" _Look, this is something I need to do, and I can't do it without you guys. Please, help me with this. Help me get stronger." Ingo asked again, a hint of pleading in his voice. Red just shook his head and put a hand on Ingo's shoulder._

" _Look kid, I get it. You're scared. The strongest guy any of us have ever seen is out of commission, global communications are down and last we heard, Vale is in a real bad way right now. But doing something as reckless as this isn't going to do anyone any good. You wanna get stronger? Then do it the way you've been doing it. Keep training." Red told Ingo gently. Now Ingo was glaring as he knocked Red's arm off his shoulder._

" _That isn't good enough, not anymore! The Grimm are getting more and more numerous by the day and who knows what else is lurking out there? We all know how powerful Gula is and anything that can put him in_ hospital _is going to be well beyond any of us, maybe even all of us! What if there's more out there that can do that? What then?" Ingo argued back vehemently, but it was all for naught._

" _Sorry, kid. Our answer's final." Blue apologized, though it fell on deaf ears as Ingo stared at them for a moment before he spun around and stalked off. He weaved his way through the village before he departed through the west gate and made his way through the forest to a secluded area he'd found not too long ago. He stood there in the center of the clearing for a moment before yellow energy erupted from his body as he let out a frustrated shout! The energy surged and buffeted the trees and grass with gusts of wind before the energy vanished and he stood there, huffing and puffing from the exertion and frustration._

" _I don't really know anything about this weird stuff you and the others are learning from Gula, but that looks like wasting energy."_

 _Ingo whirled around to see the green dressed Huntsman standing behind him._

" _What do you want?" Ingo asked harshly. Green held up his hands placatingly._

" _Easy there, I'm not here to pick a fight." Green assured, though the sudden disappearance of Ingo, followed by his reappearance in front of Green was more than a little unnerving._

" _Then what_ are _you here for?" Ingo asked again. Green took a deep breath before exhaling._

" _I'm gonna help you out." Green stated. Ingo's eyes widened as he took a half step back in surprise._

" _You… You're serious?" Ingo stuttered. Green just sighed._

" _Look, I'm not crazy about the idea, but you were right about one thing: If there is something out there that's strong enough to put_ Gula _into intensive care at a Vale hospital, the thought of something else that strong out there with no one to stop it is… terrifying. If I'd known how much he was holding back when we sparred back then…" Green explained before he shuddered._

" _Bottom line is, if he's not here, who's gonna be?" He finished. Part of Ingo was elated that_ someone _was seeing reason, but he tempered that down. The situation was grim, and he needed to remind himself why he was seeking this power. It wasn't power for its own sake._

" _Alright. Then let's…" Ingo started before Green held up his hand._

" _But! Before we do this, I'm swearing both of us to silence. I cannot imagine the sort of horrible things Gula will do to us, specifically_ me _if he gets wind of what we've done." Green stated. Ingo scoffed._

" _Don't worry about him. I'll be able to handle him if things get that bad." Ingo assured confidently. Green didn't seem to agree._

" _Well, here's hoping, but I'll remain skeptical." Green replied glumly as he prepared the ritual to unlock Ingo's Aura. All he could hope was that this decision didn't come back to bite him in the ass._

* * *

It was a rare moment of solitude for Gula, at least in recent days. For the last few weeks, he'd constantly been surrounded by people, mostly teenagers, and despite the satisfaction he got out of training Amber and the Grassbed teens, he also enjoyed moments to himself. It was evening now. He had a stomach full of fresh bear and he'd done his patrolling for the evening. Now it was time to train.

It wasn't going to be gravity training though. While he could get plenty out of that, he didn't want to be so far away from the village this late at night. Besides, increased gravity wouldn't do him any good for the type of training he had in mind. No, he had something specific in mind.

Over the last couple of weeks, Gula had been spending every spare moment he had on mastering a power within him. The last time he'd felt this power was during his fight with Aspera. While it hadn't brought him victory, it had allowed him to surpass his elder sister, if only for a moment. However, he was also keenly aware that despite the incredible strength he'd gained from this power, which he'd dubbed the Wrathful Form, he'd also lost himself in a blind fury. He half-suspected that had Aspera not been able to grab him by his tail to stop him, he likely would have just gone on a rampage after killing his sister, trapped within a maelstrom of an unstoppable rage.

And that was why Gula had originally been content to let that power lie until he could better isolate himself for the purposes of mastering this new ability. Unfortunately, it seemed that the power and his own body had other ideas and he'd felt more than a few moments of the form and its accompanying rage creeping into his body during sparring matches with Amber, much to his frustration. He hadn't any clue why it was surfacing within him so easily now, but since he wasn't about to just ditch Amber in the middle of her training, he'd instead resolved to master the new form in what private moments he could, and he'd made good progress. For one, he'd learned to suppress the form if he felt the distinct rush of power coming on so that it didn't catch him off-guard. After that, he'd resumed sparring with his trainees, though he preferred to have them spar with each other. While he did notice more improvement if they were fighting him, it was also a good idea for them to learn how to pick apart each other's fighting styles as well. While they could try to do that with him, it wouldn't matter for a long time. The gulf between them and him was just too wide.

That being said, he had noticed that Amber's rate of improvement had noticeably increased, and Gula wasn't quite sure how. Setting aside her continued struggles with energy waves, Amber was gaining strength at a greater rate than any of the other trainees. At first, Gula just chalked it up to her existing combat experience and that she'd had more one on one training with him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that her advantage in of prior schooling as a Huntress didn't cover all of it, nor did the extra training she had from him. Something else was going on, and Gula had a sneaking suspicion as to what it was. After all, he had another case to compare Amber to, much as said case made him raise his hackles.

He'd been keeping an eye on Ingo using his energy senses ever since giving the ex-trainee the boot, and while his anger was _far_ from abating, he was still very concerned. Ingo hadn't ceased training on his own and while Gula did believe that expelling as much energy possible was definitely good for Ingo's health, that didn't change that his body was under constant strain from the two mixing powers. Gula almost considered it a miracle the boy's muscles hadn't torn themselves apart from the constant expansion and contraction they were undergoing with all that raw power coursing through them, and speaking of miracles, it had to have taken _several_ of them for Ingo to have not suffered any heart problems so far, what with how strained the organ must have been. If he kept going on like this, Gula had no problems believing that Ingo could quite literally drop dead at any moment. Regardless of how Gula felt about Ingo at the moment, he didn't look forward to such an eventuality.

It made sense that both Amber and Ingo were exhibiting similar… Gula didn't want to use the word symptoms, because that made it sound like Amber and Ingo were sick. Well, Ingo could perhaps be considered so, but his was a slightly different case. Still, the similarities were undoubtedly there, and he'd had a sense this was happening, even from the start. He just had it confirmed by Ingo. Gula imagined that Amber felt lucky, in a very strange way, to have half her Aura missing so that she wasn't in the same situation as Ingo; being slowly torn apart from the inside by his own power

Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any way to stop it. Ingo couldn't just make either of these powers go away, and it didn't seem he could drain them off long enough to give his poor body a reprieve. At this point, Gula figured the only way to help him would be to go over there and hit him hard enough to shatter his Aura temporarily, but he was worried that, given the tremendous internal stress, such a blow could cause far too much damage, or possibly set Ingo off like a grenade. Neither of those were appealing outcomes to Gula.

And of course, the village had long taken notice of the apparent feud between himself and Ingo. It wasn't exactly hard to miss. Ingo was avoiding them like the plague and spent every spare moment he had in the woods, training against Grimm. Gula had passed over Ingo's training grounds during one of his patrols and it looked like a warzone; Trees utterly decimated, blackened craters everywhere, boulders split or shattered and no wildlife to be seen anywhere. It was clear that Ingo wasn't exercising much restraint with his training and was instead simply throwing around as much power as he could to flash-incinerate the Grimm. And yet, Gula could never quite get a read on how much energy Ingo was expending with these 'training sessions' that he'd have been more charitable to call temper tantrums. The scathing looks and remarks were heard by everyone and the concerned, even scared looks of everyone who wasn't privy to the entire situation were obvious. He'd heard Amber talking with a couple of the other students about trying to somehow patch things up between the group and Ingo, and while every fibre of Gula's being wanted to reject the notion, the rational side of him kept bringing up that setting aside Ingo's ticking clock, the negativity being generated was just going to draw in more and more Grimm and one day that could spell disaster if Gula and the others weren't around to stop them, as unlikely as that would be.

"I thought you said you were doing some solo training."

Gula's eyes opened a bit, though he otherwise didn't react to Amber's voice. He'd sensed her approaching some time ago.

"Got to thinking instead. I thought you were working on getting the energy wave down." Gula shot back. Amber took a seat with her back pressed against a tree; knees pulled up to her chest.

"I got distracted too; needed to talk to someone 'in the know'." She replied. Gula closed his eyes again.

"You'll need to be more specific."

Amber sighed and looked up at the canopy.

"I mean Cinder, Beacon, all of that stuff. I know it's not your main worry, and that your investment in it goes about as far as training me so that I can handle it, and maybe knocking around Cinder a bit if you get the opportunity, but I don't really have anyone else to talk to about it." Amber explained. Gula made a 'hmph' noise but didn't tell her to stop.

"I was in my third year at Haven when I got these powers. I woke up in the morning and went to get ready for the day when I accidentally flash-froze the shower. I got approached by Headmaster Lionheart regarding what happened and got introduced to Qrow. They explained the legend to me and that the previous Fall Maiden had passed away. Apparently, she was an old woman that I had helped out earlier that weekend." Amber began to recount.

Gula wasn't exactly in the mood to listen to a life story, but he could also tell that Amber really needed to get it off her chest, so he kept silent and listened.

"So, I said goodbye to everyone. My classmates, my teachers, my team… I looked them up whenever I had CCT access, but it wasn't the same… I was on the road constantly. I've been from Anima to Sanus and back again and I never really thought too much about the world I was in now. I learned how to use my new powers, I helped people wherever I could and tried to keep a low profile. Now though… I don't know, maybe I should have thought about it more. Maybe I wouldn't have fallen for Cinder's trap, or I would have at least been more careful and managed to get away. Now _she's_ got one key and we have no idea of how to stop her." Amber muttered.

"This isn't just about Cinder, is it…" Gula asked. It had been real subtle, but through bits and pieces he'd picked up on from Ozpin, Qrow, Taiyang and Amber, he'd figured there was something else at work. Plus, there was the fact that he doubted that Cinder could have orchestrated all of this on her own. Having fought her, he could tell that, while incredibly intelligent and well-studied in combat, she was someone who would succeed while she was in control of a situation. If you derailed the situation enough, she would crumble. Planning to take down Beacon like this took time and resources and no small degree of intimidation to keep all the moving parts in line, and while he believed that Cinder could accomplish some of that herself, plotting the downfall of Beacon and possibly all of Vale took something that Gula felt she didn't have.

"No, it's not. It's Cinder's master that I'm worried about. Even if I am strong enough to take Cinder, I can't imagine I can come close to her master." Amber stated. Gula scoffed.

"Yet. The word you're missing there is _yet._ What have I been teaching you all since day one?" Gula asked rhetorically.

"We only have limits because we deem it so." Amber groaned. Gula rolled his eyes.

"Not a direct quote, but it works. Properly motivated, you could go well beyond whatever level Cinder's master is at." Gula lectured yet again.

"And that's all well and good, but I can't imagine we have enough time to catch up with her. I mean, you could probably handle her without too much difficulty, but the rest of us? I don't see how we could stand a chance. Not with the armies she has and centuries of planning and learning she has on her side." Amber muttered. Gula's eyes narrowed.

"Centuries?" He asked. Amber huffed.

"Yeah. Apparently, Cinder's master has been around for more than a handful of centuries. She's had all that time to study, learn and plan. How else would she have been able to systematically bring Vale to its knees. She's probably worked out how to bring down every other kingdom and is just waiting on her next opportunity. Add to the fact that we don't know where she is and well…" Amber briefly explained. Gula frowned a bit as his eyes squeezed shut. Why did he feel he knew something about this?

"I swear, I've heard something like this before… Come on, where have I heard it?" Gula muttered to himself as he tried to recall before his eyes snapped open and he snapped his fingers.

"Menagerie!" He exclaimed before he levitated off the ground in lieu of getting to his feet the old fashioned way before he started flying back to the group. Amber was quick to follow, her face one of surprise and confusion.

"Wait, what does Menagerie have to do with this? And where are you going?!" Amber called after him just as he began descending to land where the others were training.

"Didn't I just say?" Gula asked as he walked up to where the others were training.

"NO!" Amber exclaimed, causing the others to take notice.

"Alright then. I'm going to be heading out to Menagerie for a few days. I just need to check on something and then I'll be right back." Gula explained bluntly before he turned to leave.

"Wait! You can't just take off like that again!" Ash exclaimed as he rushed over.

"Sorry, but this isn't something that can just wait. Unless things _really_ get out of hand, I shouldn't be gone for more than a couple days." Gula assured them before turning to fly towards the village.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't things _always_ get out of hand when you leave?" Amber pointed out as she and the rest of the trainees followed after Gula.

"Look, like I said, I don't want to put this off. I don't know how long this down time is going to last before whatever the next stupid thing to hit me in the face shows up, and I might not get another opportunity afterwards. You guys are doing more than fine on your own, training wise. You'll have more than enough power to fight off any Grimm or bandits that have a go at the town. Besides, I need to handle this alone. The fewer people who know about where I'm going, the better." Gula said firmly before he stopped and turned around.

"Look, I know that things are kind of uncertain right now, but trust me, you all can more than handle any snarly beast that comes out of the woods. I'm honestly real impressed with how you've all stuck it out through the training, _and_ how strong you've become. You've still got a ways to go, but you're well on your way to the point where you won't need me training you anymore." Gula told them. They looked surprised, unsure, but he could tell that the praise was lifting their spirits a bit. Gula immediately frowned and crossed his arms.

"That doesn't mean you're done training though. It just means that, come the time, you won't have _me_ training you. It'll be on your own." Gula reminded them. They immediately nodded at him before Gula uncrossed his arms.

"I'm going to head into town to let Ingo know that I'm leaving for a couple of days." Gula informed them before turning to leave. Amber suddenly zipped forward in front of him, which seemed to irk him for a moment, but he just crossed his arms and stared at Amber expectantly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? One of us can let him know that you're leaving and will be back soon." Amber offered. Gula shook his head.

"He would just take that as a sign of weakness and try to use it to try and turn people against me. It's not exactly a secret that him and me aren't on the best of terms right now, and since he's being _real_ vocal about it, it's not impossible that people will take his side. Even if they don't take his side, people could be turned against me since I was the one training him and now something's obviously wrong with him. It's obvious that whatever's wrong with him, he blames me. I don't need to give him ammunition by taking off on an errand without letting him know, having him learn that I left without letting him know and then going on about it to anyone who will listen." Gula explained tiredly. Amber frowned.

"Why don't you just set the record straight? He wouldn't have been able to unlock his Aura on his own, so _someone_ must have done it. I've seen that hunter team around, so it's obviously one of them who did it. Just get their testimony and there you go." Amber pointed out. Gula sighed.

"Thanks for reminding me that I'm overdue for a _long_ conversation with them, and trust me, I've been tempted to do just that with every snide comment and resentful look he's thrown at me, you or the others. If I did do that though, the town would turn on him and I don't think he could handle that. He's already coping with what happened here pretty badly as it is. Do you really want to find out what happens if the reason he claims he did this for was to tell him he was wrong? He'd be devastated, and possibly a _lot_ more prone to lashing out." Gula muttered as he flew around Amber and started heading back to the village. Amber trailed after him, slightly slumped over mid-flight.

"Why does that have to make sense?" She grumbled as she trailed after him.

"Trust me, I wish it didn't either." Gula replied as they touched down just outside the village.

"By the way, how'd you figure all that out? I thought your people were kind of… bad at the 'emotion' thing." Amber asked. Gula rolled his eyes.

"There's a difference between being bad at emotions and just having a different psychology and culture. I mean, I'd like to think I'm better at this than the average Saiyan, but I've got a real limited pool of individuals to draw that conclusion from." Gula pointed out. Amber shrugged.

"I mean, I guess that's a good explanation, but it still doesn't seem very… you." Amber muttered before she snapped her fingers.

"You were treating this as a fight, weren't you!" She exclaimed, though she kept her voice down to not disturb anyone. Gula just pressed a hand to his temple, opting to not say anything. Amber allowed herself a small smirk at her deduction but decided to make herself scarce when she saw Ingo come around the corner. It was better that she not be there while Gula was talking to him.

Gula for his part, did his best to tamp down the anger and frustration that flared when Ingo shot a glare his way.

"What do you want?" He growled at Gula, who simple stood neutrally.

"I need to head out of town for a couple days maximum. I'm trusting you to keep the town safe and _not start any trouble."_ Gula replied evenly. Ingo seemed surprised for a moment, his scowl vanishing for a brief moment before the anger came back, though it was lesser and mixed with curiosity.

"Why bother telling me this? Why would you suddenly care?" He asked, his voice carrying a very distinct edge. Gula didn't break from his neutral face and stance.

"I'm telling you because with me gone, you and the others are the first line of defence for the village. That's what you want, isn't it? To protect the village?" Gula asked.

"Someone has to if you aren't going to." Ingo muttered as he turned to leave.

"What do you think I've been doing for the last six years?" Gula snapped, though he immediately regretted rising to Ingo's bait.

"And then you got bored with us. You leave constantly, travelling around and kept abandoning us mid-training, then you come back and pick up where you left off as if we've been standing still until you came back! You throw us aside like trash when we don't do things your way, even when that way _isn't enough!_ " Ingo shouted at him. Gula seemed taken aback, if only for a moment before he took on a firmer stance.

"I know that this village is all you know but believe me when I say that there's a much wider world out there, and far more beyond that. There's a lot of other places on this rock hurtling through space that need help and I won't apologize for going out there to give that help. I'm also not going to apologize for kicking you out of training. You broke the one, the _single rule_ that I laid out when I offered to train you all. What kind of message would I have sent if I let any one of you break the _only rule_ I set for this? Besides, it's pretty clear to me that my caution regarding Aura and life energy was warranted." Gula argued back, keeping his voice even. Ingo snarled back angrily.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He growled, taking an aggressive step forward. Gula's calm but firm façade was cracking again.

"Look at yourself, Ingo! You hardly eat, you barely sleep, you spend all day fighting Grimm and barely talk to _anyone,_ and your energy is so intense that it is _tearing you apart from the inside! You are literally too strong for your own good!"_ Gula hissed back. Ingo just spun around and stalked away. Gula scowled as Ingo disappeared from view, but after a few moments, he just deflated. Amber walked around the corner, having listened to the whole exchange and was surprised to see how tired Gula looked after that exchange.

"Well, that could have gone better." Amber muttered as Gula turned around and starting walking back out of the village.

"You need to keep an eye on him while I'm gone."

Amber glanced Gula's way in confusion as he kept walking towards the village borders.

"What's wrong with him?" Amber asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"You didn't see his eyes. He wasn't just angry. He wanted to attack me back there." Gula told her. It was clear that this wasn't a request. That immediately had Amber's attention.

"Do you think he'd try to attack anyone else?" Amber asked. Gula shook his head.

"I have no clue. That's why I need you to keep an eye on him. Apparently he's been sitting on a bunch of issues with me for a while, so I can get why he'd wanna have a go at me. The rest of the village though…" Gula muttered as he passed through the gates and started to float into the air.

"You think it could be just a few poor encounters before Ingo lashes out at someone." Amber finished.

"I don't think I need to tell you just how strong we are. There's a reason we do all those control exercises. All it takes is one stray hit and someone who isn't like us can wind up severely injured, or worse. If Ingo lashes out even a little, whoever's on the receiving end of his anger is likely going to die." Gula reminded her. Amber frowned.

"Do you really think he's that close to it? Like you said, he's mostly angry at you. Why would he lash out at someone who has nothing to do with all of… this?" Amber argued. Gula just huffed and pinched his brow.

"Just keep an eye on him, okay? I'd say it's better to err on the side of caution, rather than regret it later when a house blows up." He groaned before energy began to gather around him before he rocketed off into the air, heading towards the southeast. Amber frowned as the red star slowly faded into the horizon. She hoped that he was right and that he'd be gone for only a short time. Setting aside that she had the sneaking suspicion that, regardless of how long he was gone for, Gula was going to get wrapped up in some sort of shenaniganery, Amber could tell that there was something afoot in the village, and she could tell that Gula's presence, or lack thereof, was going to cause _something_ to happen. What that something was, she couldn't guess, and that had her concerned.

* * *

 **And that's where we're gonna end it today! I'm liking where Ingo's mini arc is going. Definitely gonna spend a bit more time on him next chapter. Also, gonna spend some time on Pyrrha, maybe a bit with the baddies and whatever else I'm feeling like.**

 **Creativity: Remind me why we weren't doing more with Ingo before now?**

 **Author: Honestly, it does feel like a missed opportunity. On that note, we'll probably start doing more with all of the trainees, since it's actually kind of shameful how little we have used them. We've more or less settled Gula's characterization and arc, so it's probably a good idea to give the second and tertiary cast more attention.**

 **Well, I don't have much else to say, so I think we'll just end this here!**

 **Thanks for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Post Completion notice. PLEASE READ THIS:**

 **So, you've all probably seen the current 'adfestation' like I have, and while several other chapters I've written for other stories have a detailing (and I've got a bit on my personal page about it), I'd like to take some time to address it here. For those who've been lucky to avoid it so far, during the last week of April, FF dot net has started inserting their typical ads into stories, sandwiching them haphazardly in between paragraphs and generally ruining the reading experience of everyone who is unfortunate enough to have to deal with them. Needless to say, this has me significantly miffed and I decided that while I would not stop writing, I would stop posting for the time being and watch the situation unfold. Thus far, it has been disappointing. There has been no response to the situation at all for nearly three weeks as of this writing (It will probably have been WAY longer by the time this comes out) and I've been informed that the sibling site to this one, FictionPress, has also been suffering an adfestation of its own, leading me to believe that this was a deliberate choice on the part of FictionPress; one that was not communicated to anyone and has gone completely unacknowledged by the people at FictionPress.**

 **So, seeing as this is the game that FictionPress has seemingly decided to play, I've thought of three options for myself: One, I give up and just resign myself to the fact that nothing will change and I'm not leaving either way, since the ads can be blocked, they don't show up on android devices apparently, and they don't happen on the app. Two, I don't do anything and wait until the webmasters have stopped the adfestation, regardless of how it started, and I start publishing normally again. Three, I move to a different archive and start uploading the stories I intend to take with me to that other archive one chapter at a time for the foreseeable future, and this account can be considered to be on an indefinite hiatus. In the event that I choose option three, I will post a list of all the stories I intend to carry over to the next archive, upload a handful of chapters here that I finished in between the transition from one site to another, and then… we'll see. If the webmasters here get their act together, then you'll see me return. If not, then… well, sorry. I can't say I'll have regretted the choice.**

 **Regardless of what happens, I will be publishing this chapter since it's an important one (see normal notes after digressive rant) and I don't want to have such an important chapter not reach where my readership is.**

 **Again, this may wind up being resolved by the time this chapter comes out, and I'll be sure to call out if it has happened, but I also think it's important that people remember that this happened, especially since it has happened before, in March 2019, in which the PR people said it was the fault of a third party ad system. I want to believe that this is what has happened again, but since they have not publicly responded in over two weeks to this problem (and that's two weeks since the earliest recorded sighting of the ads, it could have been around much longer), I'm not entirely convinced that this was an accident. Especially since all the ad placements theoretically mean more ad revenue for them, and more ads to clear means more ad clicks, means more money for them.**

 **It's suspicious, is all I'm saying, and I don't like it done at the expense of the work I post on this site.**

 **Alright, I've gone on long enough. We now return to your scheduled chapter.**

* * *

 **GREETINGS EVERYONE!**

 **Creativity: WOOOHOOO!**

 **Author: CELEBRATION! CELEBRATION!**

 **Creativity: WAIT! We haven't explained what's going on yet!**

 **Author: SHOCK! HORROR! We must rectify that post haste!**

 **So, big news! As of April 11** **th** **2020, Limit Breaker has officially passed one hundred THOUSAND reads! Let me repeat that number; ONE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND.**

 **I just want to say thank you to everyone who ever gave this story a curious click, followed, favorited and/or left a review on this story. Seriously, a big thanks. Here's to many more chapters and reads to come. However, I'm going a little bit further than simply saying "thanks". In celebration of this wondrous milestone, I'm going to be doing an** _ **extra long**_ **chapter for chapter 29! And possibly chapter 30 if I'm feeling up to it. How many words you may ask? Well, I don't have a solid number for it, but I can say that it will be in excess of 10K words. That'll be a record for me, so let's hope that their good ones!**

 **Creativity: Now then, with all that out of the way, let's answer the reviews:**

 **Archer: Indeed, it gives us that opportunity! Plus, on a more personal note, I get to visit Tark again!**

 **NightmareKnight1: I will neither confirm nor deny that.**

 **Raos: Well, I can't fault you for deciding that the story isn't interesting to you, now that you know that I'm not doing something you were expecting, but I would encourage you to not vanish just yet. I think you'll like what I'm going to do with RWBY and JNPR. That having been said, the fact that you still consider my story to be the best DBZ/RWBY crossover is a real honor. I don't think I've gotten there quite yet (I think Sivam currently holds that title) but thank you all the same. It means a lot.**

 **And that's it for the reviews! Bit of a lighter affair this time, but I think that's fine.**

 **Now then, I don't think there's much to recap… Oh yes! We've gone back and overhauled the Pyrrha section of chapter 27! You might want to go back and read that so that you know what's going on! Well, with that out of the way, here's the Discord password:** **R23A8zG**

 **Creativity: Now then, it's time to start our 100K reads special chapter!**

 **Author: Indeed! Allow us to proudly present chapter 29 of Limit Breaker!**

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It was a calm afternoon over the southeast oceans of Remnant. Gulls and other seabirds were gliding on the salty breeze, the waves rolled towards shore unencumbered, even whales occasionally breached the surface of the water to let out a spray of water before they returned beneath the waves. However, there was a single strip of aerospace above the ocean that was distinctly less-than-peaceful. Specifically, the wake left behind one Remnant-bound Saiyan who was flying at supersonic speeds.

Gula wasn't sure what the journey from Grassbed to Menagerie was going to yield, since he was more or less just going to confirm a few facts with the imprisoned talking Grimm named Tark, but he still felt he needed to go anyway. Perhaps Tark would be able to shed some more light on this mysterious master of Cinder's, or at least where to look. If his hunch was correct, that the strange human that had attempted to seize control of Tark and Cinder's master were the same person, then Tark could potentially tell Gula where they were. After that, it would be a simple matter of relaying that information to someone 'in the know' and letting them take care of it, or just zip on over there and deliver the supposed immortal and their Grimm pack a hot, hearty helping of hurt in the form of a Saiyan style carpet bombing. Well, save for Cinder if she was there. Gula decided he'd prefer to do what he'd threatened to do to that diminutive would-be assassin he ran into at Beacon, possibly before he did the carpet bombing so that he could drop off the assorted bones and organs on the immortal's doorstep, _then_ commence carpet bombing.

Of course, this all assumed that Tark would be inclined to share. Even if Gula had nothing to worry about in regard to Tark's potential attempts to kill and eat him, he didn't really think he had anything to convince Tark to talk regarding this immortal master of Grimm. He probably didn't care about his own life, having spent the last couple millennia trapped underground, and he probably couldn't be persuaded with torture. Besides, Gula wasn't really into torture. He wasn't above it, but torture just wasn't in the Saiyan race. It was probably one of the few things regarding violence that they tended to stay away from. The association the act had with Frieza didn't help either. Still, that still left Gula without an answer for how to persuade Tark to spill the beans regarding the immortal if he wasn't cooperative.

After a while, Gula decided that it was probably better to blow up that bridge when he got to it. Given their only interaction so far, Gula didn't exactly have reason to believe that Tark wouldn't be unreasonable with such a request, even if it had been only one interaction. The Grimm had been rather candid with how bored he was, given his current and future confinement, and would do anything to alleviate that boredom. Gula showing up to ask a few questions would probably make his day.

Gula's musings on his future negotiations with an ancient Grimm that was completely sentient and fully capable of speech were interrupted when he saw Menagerie just coming into view and slowed to subsonic speeds. As he got closer and closer to the island colony, he continued to slow down so as to not draw attention to himself. The noise, energy and contrail generated by supersonic flight would definitely be too eye-catching. Once he was close enough to the island, he circled around it and pull in closer to the desert. He could see the divots in the sand where those giant bugs lived and decided to lob an energy blast down into one of said divots. The resulting explosion fried several of the bugs instantly and sent their carcasses flying into the air. A couple of them landed in the divots of bugs who hadn't been disturbed by the explosion, though they most certainly reacted when their brethren landed in their nests. Their colossal jaws suddenly snapped shut on the dead members of their species before they were dragged down underground.

"So, they're apparently cannibalistic. That's interesting…" Gula muttered to himself as he started scanning the landscape for the old ruins.

"I know I'm in the right area… Don't tell me the sand _already_ covered up the entrance! I dug out more than enough to find it again!" Gula muttered to himself frustratedly. He didn't want to spend more time on this little outing than he needed to. The longer he was away from Mistral and his trainees, the more likely it became that something stupid would happen that he would inevitably have to clean up, because apparently that was just his life now whenever he left things unattended.

"I wonder if that's what it's like to be a parent…" Gula muttered to himself before he remembered his energy sensing ability, mentally kicked himself a few times for forgetting it and then reached out for his senses. Sure enough, he detected a _massive_ cold spot somewhere below him.

"Alright, so if I assume that Tark is trapped at the center, the entrances would have been within about _that_ radius…" Gula thought aloud as he began searching the radius he'd estimated from Tark's location. Eventually he managed to find the entrance he had used before, which had indeed filled back in with a decent amount of sand, but not enough that it would have been only a few pillars poking out of the sand. The entrance was still clearly visible, though the interior had more than a few decent sized piles of the annoying, gritty grains sitting on the floor and steps.

Gula floated down the steps and deftly navigated his way down to Tark's chamber, lighting the way with a ball of energy. It didn't take him very long to navigate his way down to the chamber where Tark was housed, and the gradual dimming of the Dust crystals and murals marked his swift progress. As he reached the final corridor to Tark's chamber, Gula dimmed the light and sent a weak blast down the hallway. It detonated in Tark's chamber, though Gula did not believe that the blast had hit Tark himself. The enormous and ancient Grimm had undoubtedly detected Gula quite some time ago and had been waiting patiently for him to arrive. Sure enough, Gula heard the distinct sound of something large beginning to shift. The ruins shuddered from his footsteps as Gula's view of the interior of Tark's chamber vanished to be replaced with a massive red and yellow eye that peered hungrily at him.

"Gula of Saiyan race, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon. What brings you to my cage this time? Even now, I can sense that you have gained much power since last we met…" Tark hissed in an amused tone as his enormous eye zeroed in on Gula.

"Well, I won't lie and say that it hasn't been uneventful since then." Gula replied as he tread slowly down the corridor. Even with his power, he didn't trust this giant Grimm one iota.

"Well, I would absolutely _love_ to hear all about it. Don't leave out a _single_ detail." Tark requested (demanded. Let's be clear, he demanded it), so Gula set about explaining what had happened since he had last seen Tark; The strange woman who attacked him, his battle in Atlas, the Breach, his confrontation with his sister, The Fall of Beacon, all of it. Tark listened to all of this with rapt interest, occasionally making a strange noise in his throat before he spoke once more.

"Well, you have been busy, scurrying about and causing trouble, haven't you? I was curious about the sudden spike I felt some time ago. Oh, I have a feeling that things are going to become _very_ interesting. The world is going to irreversibly change soon, and I have a feeling that you are going to find yourself at the center of it all." Tark growled as he reached a claw down the opposite tunnel and scraped a few bones out before tossing them into his mouth like crumbs. Gula watched as the ancient Grimm crunched the bones for a few moments before swallowing them.

"Well, I believe my curiosity has been satiated for now, and I believe you have yet to share why you came back to visit me. Please forgive my rudeness in requesting a story from you before even hearing the purpose of your return. What need do you have of me?" Tark inquired as he slid his massive eye up to the corridor once more.

"Well, it's come to my attention that the immortal that you told me about during my last visit may be behind the Fall of Beacon and is planning to take down the other kingdoms. I don't think that's her endgame, but that's what I know right now." Gula began to explain, only for Tark to cut him off.

"If you wish for me to explain how to prevent all this, I'm afraid I will be of no help to you. I do not know what the immortal plans, nor would I tell you how if I did. After all, why would I want to make the battle so easy for you?" Tark stated, only for Gula to shake his head in the negative.

"I wasn't going to ask that. What I was going to ask was for any and all details about the immortal; Who are they, what can they do, what do they want to do, no detail spared." Gula requested. Tark seemed to consider the question for a few moments before made another strange noise in his throat.

"I suppose I can entertain that request. Even trapped here, I still _feel_ my brethren across the world, in the oceans and above the clouds." Tark decided before his massive eye slid shut. He let out a rumbling breath and began to speak.

"I can feel _her_ pull, oh yes. I can practically taste her rage, her _hatred_ for the world and her wish to see it all razed to the ground in the fires of her vengeance. She despises humanity, even as she acknowledges its ability to survive. She hates one among them most of all, for one among them chose humanity over her, a betrayal that has festered in her for millennia. She would see the end of _everything_ to spite the one who chose a people over her, for how deep is her hatred." Tark hissed, sounding as though he was enjoying this. Gula committed all of this to memory.

"How does she intend to do this? What does she need? What is her _name?_ " Gula pressed.

"She requires four _keys_. She has the means to acquire one of them and seeks the means for the other three, but her search has not given her success thus far. As for her name… Oh yes, I can hear it echoing in the darkness. It lingers in every corner of the mind of every Grimm… _Salem…"_ Tark breathed. Gula nodded.

"I think that'll do for now. Thanks a lot, Tark." Gula replied graciously before turning to leave.

"I look forward to our next exchange, Gula of the Saiyan Race… I look forward to it a great deal…" Tark hissed down the tunnel as Gula began his flight back out of the ruins. The moment he was out of the dry, dusty corridors he felt an immense sense of relief. He did not like it underground, particularly down there. Mountain caves were one thing, going that deep underground felt _unnatural_ to him. The only time he remembered being that far underground was when he'd woken up in Beacon's basement, and… well, it was probably better not to think about how well _that_ had gone.

As Gula floated up into the air, he turned to start heading back to Grassbed, only to get interrupted by… well, by himself. Specifically, his stomach loudly protesting the lack of food currently inside it.

"Well… I suppose lunch couldn't hurt." Gula decided. He'd brought along his lien satchel and it was plenty heavy enough to afford a meal for himself. Gula flew down towards Menagerie and cast out his energy sense to try and find a good place to enter the cramped colony. However, as he got closer and closer to the outskirts of the town, Gula noticed a particularly familiar double energy signature that marked an individual that had their Aura unlocked, and it wasn't just the double nature of the signature that was familiar.

"So _this_ is where she ran off to…" Gula muttered as he touched down out of sight and began to idly stroll down the cramped streets of Menagerie. Lunch could wait, at least for a short while. He had some catching up to do with a certain acquaintance of his.

* * *

"Come on… Come on, you can do this…"

Amber gritted her teeth in concentration as she cupped her hands at her side and pulled close to her hip, mirroring the stance that Gula had taught her. Energy was gathering in her palms and compressing as stared down her target: a boulder about eight feet tall and twenty yards away. She could destroy it with her bare fists and even a sufficiently large energy blast, but the energy wave would completely annihilate it if she mastered the technique.

"HYA!" Amber shouted as she threw her arms forward, palms facing the boulder and wrists pressed together as the energy wave erupted from her hands! And then proceeded to fizzle out several feet before it could hit the target… again…

Amber could only stare at the boulder in deadpan fashion, still in the same pose from firing the blast before she slowly slumped over and let out a groan of frustration before turning around. Suddenly, she spun around as a sphere of yellow-gold energy materialized in her right hand before she threw it at the boulder, causing it to explode in spectacular fashion!

"How come I can do _that_ perfectly fine, but I can't handle an energy wave?!" Amber complained loudly before she stormed off. For the life of her, she could not figure out what she was doing wrong with the energy wave. She could charge the wave and fire it perfectly fine, but it never worked! It would fizzle out before reaching its target, or it would reach said target and do little more than give it a light scuff!

"Why is this so hard?" Amber lamented as she made her way back to the village, passing Violet and Garrow who were training together in the form of a mock spar. Amber paused to watch as the spar was apparently nearing its conclusion as Violet backflipped away from Garrow, who had just slammed his fist into the ground where she had just been standing. Violet cupped her hands at her side just before she landed as a bright blue star materialized in between her palms before she thrust it forward! A stream of energy erupted from her hands that slammed into Garrow, knocking him on his behind and causing Amber to fume. As Garrow got to his feet, rubbing his chest where the beam had hit him, he noticed Amber out of the corner of his eye, more specifically noticing her frustrated expression.

"Hey Amber, how're you doing?" Garrow called over as Amber just grumbled under her breath. Violet winced, having a bit of an inkling as to what had Amber so irked.

"You still struggling with the energy wave?" Violet asked, though she was quickly having second thoughts as she recalled the numerous times that Amber had trounced her in their sparring sessions, weapon or no.

"I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong! I focus my ki, charge the attack and then fire! I can handle the normal energy blast perfectly fine, so why is this one not working?!" She complained as she kicked at a loose stone, though this turned out to be a bad idea as she accidentally punted it off into the woods before a sound that sounded like said stone had embedded itself an inch or two into a tree. All three of them cringed a bit at the noise.

"Well… I'm not sure what else I can say. I mean, you've got the form down better than I do and you've got more energy to work with than me, so you should be able to pull it off fine." Violet commented, causing Amber to grind her teeth a little more, though she did a better job of hiding it this time. Or at least, she thought she did. Garrow was giving her a weird look that could possibly have indicated otherwise.

"Have you tried using an energy wave against any Grimm?" Violet asked. Amber frowned.

"Once, and it did work. Problem is that the thing was so close to me that I needn't have bothered. I could have just used a normal blast or even just a punch or kick to take it down." Amber replied, her annoyed scowl having let up somewhat.

"Could the problem be that you're just not putting enough energy into it? I mean, when Gula uses an energy wave, he usually sustains the beam for a few moments _after_ whatever he's targeting if he's really going for it. Maybe it's better to start with overkill and then tone it down afterwards in your case." Garrow suggested. Amber just huffed, although she did file Garrow's suggestion away in her head for later.

"At this point, I'm to annoyed to do anything productive training-wise. I'm going to go for a flight, then head back to the inn. Waste of my Sunday…" Amber muttered as she floated up into the air and shot off towards the mountains. If Gula was around, she'd have considered using the gravity machine to work off some of this frustration, but the trainees had silently agreed that it was probably best to avoid the machine until Gula got back, since they didn't know what to do if something went wrong. While Gula did possess some measure of foresight and caution, it seemed his was pretty selective with it, given how he'd been rather reckless when he'd used the aforementioned machine for training. Then again, he had been more desperate at the time, from what she could recall of his tale. Also, he had the _totally unfair_ advantage of his alien biology; that 'zenkai boost' as he called it. Seriously, being able to convert battle damage into a permanent boost in strength was _so unbelievably broken._ Not that she was jealous or anything…

As Amber approached the mountains, she decided to visit Gula's cave. She'd only been there a couple of times and she'd never actually gone into what was effectively his home. She couldn't understand why he chose to live like this. He had perfectly good lodging at the town inn, what with how much he'd helped rebuild it after the still unexplained fire Dust incident and she had noted that he seemed to enjoy the beds there more than whatever he slept on in this cave. He could easily earn enough lien to purchase his own home, or even just build one himself. He obviously had picked up _some_ tricks regarding construction and woodworking from the aforementioned fire Dust incident.

Amber touched down at the mouth of the cave and poked her head inside. There wasn't much to see. Just a fire pit in the back with a pot hanging over the burnt remains of some sticks and logs, an ever-so-slightly raised platform that was covered in furs and pelts from Gula's kills over the years that he presumably slept on, and a small alcove that firewood was stored in. Nothing too interesting.

Amber exited the cave and floated up and away from the cave before looking at the mountain again and it started to make more sense why he would choose to live in such a location. For one, it was pretty isolated and extremely difficult to reach if you were unable to fly, which is something she knew that Gula would like. Even though he had proved to be a good teacher and could interact easily with everyone in Grassbed, sans Ingo at the moment, Gula was hardly a social creature. He preferred his solitude and being able to do what he wanted, how he wanted to and when he wanted to do it. Naturally there were some compromises in that regard when it came to training Amber and the others, but she knew that Gula did enjoy teaching, at least on some level. He wouldn't have been that good at it if he hated it.

After a few doing a few laps around the village a few miles out as part of a brief patrol (and scorching a few Grimm that were treading a little to close to the village) Amber decided that it was time to head back to the inn to get some food. Her stomach had begun to loudly protest its emptiness a few minutes ago. Training as a Huntress burned quite a bit of energy as it was but throwing Ki training into the mix had thrown her appetite and metabolism into overdrive, though still nowhere near as disturbing as Gula's legendary stomach capacity. Still, if push came to shove, she could probably eat enough food at an all-you-can-eat buffet to get more than her money's worth.

Luckily, the inn was more than accommodating regarding her new diet, as were the rest of the villagers with the other trainees. It certainly helped that Gula was still going out hunting, occasionally bringing back something a little more exotic to shake things up. However, after he brought back a great white shark, they politely requested that he stick to normal fish like tuna. Amber couldn't help but snicker a bit as she recalled the day that Gula had arrived. He'd been out for a few hours on one of his hunting trips, one that had gone on a bit longer than what was usual for him. Amber had been sparring with Lila when she sensed Gula approaching the village, so she called off the spar before she and Lila flew back to Grassbed to meet up with the others. Gula was already in sight by the time they got to the town square, though his silhouette looked rather unusual, though it looked rather unusual. However, as he got closer to the village, it quickly became clear what was different. It was the massive death fish that he had slung across his back. Despite the gasps and screams when Gula had touched down in the village with his catch he still looked incredibly pleased with himself, though it could have been directly because of said gasps and screams now that Amber thought about it.

Well, regardless of the opinion of the villagers, the shark had actually tasted pretty good. Gula had saved the teeth of the giant creature as keepsakes, which a few of the trainees had jokingly suggest that Gula have made into a necklace or bracelet. Strangely enough, he seemed to have been actually considering it, and the more she thought about it, the more she was starting to possibly consider it a good idea, much as that shocked her. Well, if anyone could pull off a shark tooth necklace, it wouldn't be a surprise of that person was a literal alien. Besides, it could be a part of his culture that they adorn themselves with trophies from wild game. Next time they were alone and didn't have to worry about keep the whole 'extraterrestrial' thing under wraps, she'd have to ask him.

As Amber touched down in the village square she noticed Ingo hauling supplies to the village bakery, still sporting the same mild scowl that he'd had ever since Gula had kicked him out of training. She'd noticed he'd been doing less patrols recently and started helping around the village a little more, helping carry heavy supplies and the like around. Amber wasn't exactly sure what had prompted this change, though she believed it to be a pretty positive one. Perhaps getting away from his self-imposed isolation and interacting with the community he'd grown up in would help temper his anger and frustration with Gula. Getting those two to make peace was going to be a very long and delicate process, but if it worked then it'd be worth it.

" _However, that still doesn't solve the problem of how we help Ingo with all that turbulent energy he's got."_ Amber thought to herself as she reached out with her senses to check on Ingo's energy, wincing a bit when she detected the familiar chaotic storm that was raging inside his body. Luckily, it seemed his body was holding itself together remarkably well, but that only made Amber more nervous. It couldn't hold out forever, and if even one thing went wrong, such as a single bone's integrity giving out or one organ failed or tore, Amber had a feeling that everything would start falling apart at once.

Amber shook her head to clear her mind. They wouldn't be able to help Ingo while he still hated their guts. Focus on patching things up between him, Gula and the other trainees, then worry about keeping Ingo from dying a premature death. And food before all that, as Amber's stomach was quick to remind her.

Amber strode through the streets to the inn and grabbed a seat at the bar. A few minutes of waiting later, Lila arrived to take her order. She spent whatever spare moments she had earning money at the inn, even if business had slowed a bit since the CCT in Vale had been brought down.

"Good afternoon! You're here early." Lila commented as she handed Amber a water to start.

"Thanks. Training ended a bit early today, so I decided to do a quick patrol and come back here." Amber replied as she sipped at the water. Lila winced.

"Still having trouble with the energy wave, huh? Yeah, I'm kind of struggling with that too." She muttered as she grabbed her notepad to write down the order.

"I'll just get the usual, and at least you can actually _hit_ something at thirty yards. I can't even _reach_ twenty, let alone damage something at that range." Amber ground out after giving her order. Lila jotted it down before turning to bring it to the cooks.

"Well, hopefully you'll figure it out. You want anything else to drink?" Lila asked as the cooks got to work. Amber shook her head.

"I'll stick with water for now. I'm not really in a drinking mood." She replied as Lila left to take another customer's order. Amber sat at the bar patiently, sipping at her water as she listened to the chorus of chatter within the inn. However, she could tell that it wasn't the same chatter that this place would normally see, even if she had no reference point for 'normal' chatter. She could tell by the atmosphere. Everyone was worried about when the CCT would come back online and how Vale was recovering from the surprise attack by the White Fang and Grimm, not to mention Atlas' involvement causing more than a few people to cast wary eyes towards the famous City in the Clouds.

Amber frowned as she set down her water, hearing the ice cubes jostle about in a way that indicated the water was running low. Just as another waitress arrived to top up her glass, someone took a seat on the barstool next to her. Amber glanced to the side to take a look at this person. Even at a glance, Amber could tell this person wasn't from the village. Their bare arms on the bar were muscled and scarred far more than anyone else in the village, though not quite as bad as Gula was. Amber could see black hair poking out from under the hood and a scar on the person's lip, but that was about it. Amber reached out with her energy senses to get a better read on the stranger and found nothing out of the ordinary. It was a bit larger than the average person, but not enough to raise suspicion.

"You look like you've had a hard day." The stranger spoke. Going by the voice, it was a woman in her mid to late twenties, possibly early thirties.

"You look like you've had a hard life, what with all those scars." Amber replied as she sipped at her water.

"Why, hello there Kettle, my name's Pot. Have we met?" The woman replied dryly. Amber resisted the urge to touch the scar on her own face and felt a brief moment of shame at her retort.

"Sorry about that. It was tasteless. I'm not sure that the day's been hard, but it's been frustrating." Amber apologized to the woman who laughed a little bit.

"Hey, no hard feelings. 'Probably wasn't the best way to start a conversation on my part." The woman mused as she waved down the bartender.

"Surprise me. Price isn't an issue." The woman told the bartender, who immediately set to work on mixing a drink for the woman. Amber turned her gaze away as took another sip of her water and extended her energy sense to the borders of the village. Violet and Garrow had returned and were back at their respective homes for dinner, Ash was training just beyond the walls that surrounded the village, and Ingo was on his way back to his own home. While she'd been otherwise occupied, the food Amber had ordered arrived in front of her, courtesy of Lila. Amber snapped back to reality at the sound of the plate being placed on the bar in front of her and immediately thanked Lila before she grabbed her utensils and beginning to dig in. The woman sitting next to her eyed the meal before smiling as she took a sip from the drink she'd gotten from the bartender, which looked like whiskey to Amber.

"You know, that actually looks pretty good." The woman commented before waving down another waitress.

"I'll have what she's having." The woman told the waitress, who immediately wrote down the order and sent it to the kitchen.

"So, what are you doing in Grassbed? Not many people are travelling on foot these days, what with the uptick in Grimm activity and the CCT being down." Amber asked as she took a bite out of the bread that came with her meal. The woman shrugged.

"Mainly just wandering. I was doing that before, so why stop now?" The woman replied as she took another sip of her drink.

"Damn, this is good." She complimented as she put her glass back down on the bar. Amber finished another bite and dragged a bit of mashed potatoes through gravy as she took another draught of water.

"Any destination in particular, or are you just on the road for the sake of it?" Amber asked before taking a bite of the aforementioned potatoes.

"Mainly just travelling for fun. I'm a bounty hunter by trade, but I'm between targets right now and I'm not seeing too much business anyway at the moment." The woman answered as she slowly rotated her glass, watching the liquid inside splash about. Amber's eyes suddenly flashed over to the woman as her instincts suddenly had her on edge. It wasn't uncommon for Hunters to eventually find work as bounty hunters and many others besides found their way into the profession, but one thing bounty hunters didn't do was travel without reason. They needed to stay accessible during their down time to receive new contracts or marks. Besides, if they _did_ travel, they did so in a swift manner to ensure that a client wasn't kept waiting or a target didn't have time to evade them.

Amber was now _very_ suspicious of this woman. If this woman really was a bounty hunter, she was an incredibly incompetent one, at least in regard to the business side of things. However, Amber did not get the impression of incompetence from this person. So either she was only telling half the truth, or she was outright lying. Plus, there was the issue of this woman having no Aura signature that almost always signified a bounty hunter or Hunter, or any weapons on the woman's person; elements that were practically a necessity to make it as a bounty hunter on Remnant. If this woman really was a bounty hunter, then what exactly was she.

Amber carefully went back to her food, trying to not look tense or suspicious. As she took another sip from her glass, the waitress arrived with the bounty hunter's food, which she eagerly dug into.

"Oh man, this is some _real_ good food." The bounty hunter muttered as she continued to attack it. Amber wasn't sure what to make of this woman. On the one hand, Amber had a ton of reasons to be suspicious of her, given the sketchiness and questionability of her apparent backstory. But on the other hand, her behaviour was just too _weird_ in contrast to the backstory. She was friendly enough and was behaving more like some sort of tourist! Amber wasn't about to trust any random stranger, regardless of how trustworthy they appeared to be. That's how she'd wound up with her magic powers dead, her face permanently scarred and _half dead._ However, she couldn't go around picking fights and being paranoid all the time. She had her energy sense to check not only for sinister intent and for checking who was potentially dangerous, regardless of intent. She had her new training, she had her staff and she had four other people in the village who were almost as strong as she was, and one that was quite possibly stronger than her and by a wide margin. While there was definitely a ton of danger out there that could very well be beyond them at some point, right now, Grassbed was probably among the safest places in the world to be. Especially since the Grimm were actively _afraid_ of treading to close to the village that Gula had marked as under his protection.

That having been said, she wouldn't drop her guard. As she had reminded herself earlier, dropping her guard in such a manner was how she'd gotten to this point and she was _not_ going to end up like that again.

"Hey, if you're not hungry, you mind letting me eat that?"

Amber snapped out of her thoughts as the woman addressed her. Amber looked down at her food, which she'd been prodding at with her fork for a few minutes now.

"No thanks, I'm fine. I was just lost in thought." Amber replied as she got back to her food. The woman looked a bit disappointed but shrugged as she started tending to a fresh drink before dropping a large amount of lien on the bar.

"Keep the change. Consider the excess as tips." The woman told the waitress, who dumbfoundedly gathered up the vast quantity of money and took it to the register to tally up the bill. Amber watched curiously as the woman yawned before taking another swig of her drink, nearly emptying the glass.

"Well, I think I'm gonna head out as soon as I'm done this. It was nice talking to you. Oh, and a brief word of advice, you aren't going to break anything if you don't commit to it." The woman told her before tossing the rest of the glass back and placing it back on the counter before she stood up and walked out the door. Amber stared after her for a few moments as she tried to figure out what the woman had been talking about before it suddenly all clicked, and her eyes went wide. Amber leapt from the barstool and sprinted for the inn door, throwing it open as she yanked her staff from her back and extended it, ready for a fight! However, it was all for nought as the woman was gone, seemingly having vanished into thin air. Amber immediately reached out with her energy sense, desperately trying to find the woman. Finally she located her, only for Amber to suddenly cold and pale. Her energy was tremendous, easily matching and probably eclipsing Gula's, and that was just at supersonic flight. There was a wide gulf between supersonic flight energy levels of energy and battle-ready energy levels.

Amber was suddenly thankful that she hadn't tried to start anything with that woman, nor that the woman had tried to start anything with her. Ever better was the fact that she was flying away, and not in the direction that Gula had left in. Amber could only think of one person who that could possibly have been, and she was someone that _no one_ on Remnant wanted to cross, regardless of whether they knew or not.

"Man, when Gula gets back, he is going to freak out…" Amber murmured to herself as she went back into the inn to pay for the meal, even if she had no intention of finishing it. However, she was now reconsidering the idea of getting a drink, if only to calm her nerves. Amber knew that tonight was going to be a very long, very sleepless night.

* * *

" _You know, I probably should have just flown."_ Gula thought to himself. He'd known that this island settlement was pretty… well, there a few words one could employ; compact was probably the nicest way to say it, but most people would probably just say cramped. Buildings were pressed very close together and people even more so as they bustled about the streets. This place was certainly a far cry from Grassbed, where Gula could have a giant chunk of street to himself, depending on when he was passing through. The busiest section of the town was always the market area and the inn, and even then you typically didn't have to deal with crowds or lines. Of course, this was also dependant on what time of year it was, as there would be a natural uptick in travelers passing through Grassbed during certain times of the year. Still, it never got as bad as _this_

How the people living on this island tolerated it was completely beyond Gula's comprehension. If he wasn't worried about drawing unnecessary attention to himself Gula would have probably just taken to the air right then and there and was becoming more and more tempted to do that by the minute. However, it would probably be pointless at this point. The energy signature he'd been tracking was only about two minutes away, even with the crowds and jostling, so he just bore with it and continued to navigate his way towards the double signature, eventually making his way to a massive house in the center of the settlement.

"Wonder what she's doing here…" Gula muttered as he walked up to the front door and gave it a few knocks. It wasn't long until someone started approaching the door and when it opened, Gula found himself face to face with someone dressed in what was undoubtedly a guard's uniform.

"State your business." The man said with an air of authority.

"I'm here to speak to Blake Belladonna." Gula answered calmly, arms crossed over his chest. The guard eyed him suspiciously.

"What business do you have with Lady Blake?" The guard inquired, his hand tightening on the spear he held in one hand.

"Just a social call. Tell her its her trainer between semesters. She'll know who I am. I've got no trouble waiting." Gula replied. The guard narrowed his gaze, but leaned back to whisper something to the guard, who immediately nodded and left. The guard returned his stare back to Gula, who was now leaning against one of the columns of the large residence.

"May I ask what your relationship is with Lady Blake?" The guard tried again. Gula shrugged.

"We have a mutual acquaintance or two. I helped bale them out of a tight spot or two and gave them some training in between all that. I was just passing through and thought I'd pop in for a quick visit." Gula explained. That was half true. Gula wasn't sentimental enough to make social calls. First off, he was going to have a discussion with her about why she'd taken off the way she had. Given she'd come to an island that historically served as a last refuge for her people, he wasn't under the impression she'd come here because a warrior's calling had brought her to this place.

The second reason was to give her an update on how the others were doing and let her know that Ruby and three out of four members of JNPR were on their way to Haven and that Pyrrha would be joining them soon, hopefully with Yang in tow. What she did with that information was up to her.

Speaking of the devil, Gula could sense a familiar dual energy signature rushing through the house to the front door, followed closely by another signature that Gula didn't recognize. Soon enough, he saw the girl in question come into view before stopping in front of Gula, completely gobsmacked. She'd changed up her outfit since Gula had last seen her. She was now wearing a sleeveless black crop top with several cut outs around the neckline, a long white tailcoat, black pants with a white belt and thigh-high black boots. She'd also ditched the bow that covered her cat ears, which were sticking straight up in surprise at the moment.

Following behind her was a blond faunus boy with a monkey tail. For a brief moment, Gula thought the kid was a Saiyan before he remembered that Saiyans weren't blonde. He was wearing an unbuttoned white shirt, a necklace composed of a gold disk on a black cord, red gauntlets, blue jeans with a white belt and chain accessory on his right. Peering closer, it seemed that the boy had some sort of patch on his left shoulder, mostly concealed by his shirt.

"…How?!" Blake asked after staring at him for a few moments. Gula looked at her pointedly as he pointed up at the sky. Blake groaned as she began rubbing her forehead.

"Okay, let me rephrase that. _How did you find me?"_ She clarified. Gula shrugged.

"Actually, I was here for something completely unrelated when I found out you were here completely by accident. So, I decided I'd stop in for a little visit before I went back to Mistral." Gula replied. Blake merely grumbled under her breath as the faunus boy glanced between the two of them.

"So… is anyone gonna introduce this guy, or… Wait a minute, I remember you! You were at the docks when we were stopping that Dust robbery!" The blonde exclaimed! Gula frowned as he tried to recall the event in question before it clicked.

"Yeah, I remember you." Gula realized as he offered his hand to shake.

"Name's Sun Wukong. Huntsman in training!" The boy, now known as Sun, greeted as he shook Gula's hand.

"Gula. Martial artist." He greeted in turn. By this point, Blake was starting to take notice of the stares from the guards and the few people outside, so she motioned for Gula to come inside. Gula was more than happy to oblige as he stepped inside and the doors were closed behind him.

"So, what exactly were you doing on Menagerie?" Blake asked as she started leading them through the massive house.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you but lets just say the desert here is home to more than just pitfalls and bugs that live in pitfalls." Gula replied. Blake's eyes widened.

"You went into the desert?! Why would you… Oh right, you don't have to worry about all the stuff on the ground that can kill you." Blake muttered as she led them to what seemed to be a living room, though Gula would have thought a living room would have been bigger in a house as big as this.

"Um, uninitiated here. Why does he not need to worry about the murder desert?" Sun asked. Blake sighed as she rubbed her temples.

"Alright, don't freak out, but… he can fly." Blake told Sun, who started laughing. However, he quickly stopped laughing when no one else laughed with him.

"Holy crap, you're actually serious…" Sun murmured.

"Actually… _sigh…_ Gula, can I just go ahead an tell him?" Blake asked the Saiyan in question, who frowned for a moment.

"So long as he keeps his mouth shut about it." Gula replied after a bit of thought. Blake sighed again before taking a deep breath.

"Alright. So.. You know how during the Breach, there was that red thing that killed all the Grimm?" Blake asked Sun, who nodded.

"Oh yeah, definitely. I heard more than a few faunus going on about how 'the _Red Warrior_ had come to save them in their greatest hour of need' and all that other junk. I mean, yeah, totally something killed all those Grimm, but that weird religion thing that's started up about this supposed… Wait a second… You're not saying…" Sun started saying before turning to stare slack-jawed at Gula as air slowly leaked out of his lungs. Gula was about to say something before Sun dropped to the ground, bowing on his knees to Gula.

"I'm so sorry for my lack of faith, my lord!" Sun exclaimed to a very confused Gula, much to Blake and Gula's great chagrin.

"Um… Can someone explain to _me_ what's going on?" Gula asked as he reached down and seized Sun by the collar of his shirt and hauling him up to his feet before giving the monkey faunus a _very_ light slap across the face to snap him out of whatever was wrong with him. Blake just rubbed her forehead while resting her other hand on her hip.

"So, a few years back this urban legend started to spread through the faunus community about a mysterious figure surrounded by red light who would show up and save faunus from humans that were oppressing them. Apparently, this eventually grew to the point of being considered similar to a religion and even a cult within the White Fang." Blake explained tiredly. Now it was Gula's turn to have his jaw drop.

"So, let me get this straight… For the last… It would be four years, since that was my first encounter with faunus traffickers. Anyway, for the last four years, there has been an actual _cult_ that was founded around me, entirely based on _the one time_ I went out and blew a bunch of faunus traffickers to high hell. Does that about sum it up?" Gula summarized. Blake nodded. Gula just stared deadpan at her.

"In retrospect, I'm not sure what I what I was expecting anymore." Gula muttered. Sun stared at him wide eyed.

"Wait, so… how exactly _do_ you do that… Red Warrior thing? Is it your Semblance?" Sun asked, having calmed down a bit after getting straightened out and getting some sense smacked back into her. Gula just squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"Later, okay? I'm still busy processing the whole _cult_ thing." Gula muttered as he took a seat on one of the couches as he continued to… process. Blake took a seat herself and Sun followed suit.

"So… How are the others?" Blake asked timidly. Gula glanced at her, feeling a bit surprised. He hadn't expected her to ask how JNPR and the sisters of her team were holding up.

"Pyrrha's recovered enough, though she can't fight like she used to. She can fight, but she's had to reinvent herself from the ground up to do so. I'm actually pretty impressed." Gula shared. Blake seemed to cheer up a bit when she heard about Pyrrha's recovery, though her drooping ears indicated discomfort and possibly fear.

"And… Yang?" Blake asked. Gula's frown probably didn't help.

"She's… Screw it, not gonna sugar-coat it. She's really not herself. By all appearances, she's just given up. Maybe she's improved since the last time I saw her. It's been a few weeks, so it's definitely a possibility. Still, not good." Gula informed her. Blake now looked incredibly sullen.

"I shouldn't have left…" Blake murmured to herself.

"Probably not." Gula agreed, but he left it at that. Now wasn't the time.

"Anyway, I haven't told you about the others. Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren are making their way to Haven. They might be there by now, though I have no clue. They left about a month or so ago." Gula shared, only for Sun and Blake to suddenly sit bolt upright.

"Did you say they're going to Haven?!" Blake exclaimed. Gula frowned.

"Yeah… Why?" He asked.

"And who is this?"

Gula suddenly spun to see two new people standing in the doorframe of this apparent living room. It was a man and a woman, the latter of which shared more than a few similarities with Blake. In fact, he could see a few similarities between the two and Blake, namely their hair and eye color… Then it clicked. Honestly, it annoyed Gula that he hadn't figured it out quicker.

The man wore an open dark purple coat with a white fur trim, showing off a large patch of fur on his chest. Over this was a silver spaulder that connected to a clasp on the other side of his coat, connected by two metal strips. Over his beige pants he wore a sash that matched the color of his coat with an enormous metal plate as a sort of buckle. On his boots were white stripes, reminiscent of claws.

The woman, a dead ringer for Blake now that Gula was paying attention, wore a black hakama and sandles, white tunic and a black shrug with gold trim over the tunic. Additionally, she had three studs pierced in her ears, two on the right and one on the left, and two bangles on her left arm, as well as a purple band tied to the same arm.

"Mom! Dad!" Blake exclaimed.

"Yes, Blake. Who exactly is this?" The large man asked. Gula sized him up a bit. The man was definitely imposing; as tall as he was broad and muscular to boot, and with equally mighty facial hair. If Gula hadn't been a Saiyan he'd have been _very_ intimidated by this man.

"Mom, dad, this is Gula. He saved a lot of lives during the Breath." Blake explained quickly.

"And apparently accidentally started a cult!" Sun blurted out. Blake spun around to smack him, but Gula had already beaten her to the punch, closing the distance between himself and Wukong and giving him a hard elbowto the chest, sending him crashing into an opposite wall and slumping over, mumbling incoherently about bullheads, whatever those were.

"Seriously! Literally the first people we meet who don't know and you just announce it!" Gula yelled angrily as two red energy spheres materialized in his hands, though Blake was quick to defuse the situation.

"Gula, for the love of god, _do not blow up Sun in my family's house!"_ She exclaimed desperately and possibly hysterically as Gula glared bloody murder at Wukong. In the end though, he dispelled the energy and just started grumbling as he stalked away from Sun, who was now gingerly getting to his feet and rubbing his chest.

"Ow… Yeah… That really hurt…" Wukong groaned as he rubbed his chest gingerly. Blake hurried over to him and checked his shoulder. Glancing back, Gula could see the full extent of the wound that had been covered by the patch and white shirt; A small but deep looking puncture wound that had stained the surrounding area red.

Meanwhile, Blake's parents had just been watching with a bit of shock and horror at the altercation that had just occurred, not to mention the sentence that had preceded said altercation.

"Blake, what's this about a cult?" The woman asked hesitantly.

"Also, maybe finish introductions?" Gula added as he continued to glare at Wukong, making a mental note to make sure he was the _last_ person to find out he was an alien, regardless of how many people found out. Blake finished making sure that Sun was okay before shooting a glare of her own at Gula.

"This is my mom Kali, and this is my dad Ghira. There. Introductions finished." She replied in a clipped tone, though Gula paid it no mind.

"As for the cult thing, since _someone apparently couldn't keep their mouth shut,_ I'm the person who inspired the Red Warrior myth. There, it's been said." Gula ground out. Of course, this didn't quite have the effect that Gula was going for. In fact, it might have made the whole situation worse.

"Wait, _this kid is the Red Warrior?!"_ Ghira exclaimed.

" _He's the one who eradicated all those Grimm with a death ray?!"_ Kali added.

"Oh god, is this how Yang felt during initiation?" Blake moaned as she rubbed her temples. Seeing that this whole situation was going absolutely nowhere, Gula opted to put an end to it in an more Saiyan method. He powered up enough to unleash his crimson aura and make a lot of noise. Thankfully, this _did_ have the effect that Gula was going for, and everyone shut up right quick.

"Is everyone good? Are we not freaking out anymore? Wonderful. Mr. Ghira, Mrs. Kali, it's an honor to meet you both. Sun, I'm going to cause you lots of physical harm when you least expect it. It's been established that my abilities and _one time trafficking bust_ unintentionally led to the founding of a cult. Has that addressed everything? Fantastic. Let's please move on." Gula declared before panning his gaze around the room, as if _daring_ anyone to not move on.

"Oh, and the guards will be here in three, two…" Gula started to say before the guards burst into the room, weapons at the ready.

"There it is." Gula concluded before going to sit back down.

"Sir, we heard a disturbance! Is everything okay?!" One of the guards frantically asked. Ghira waved them down.

"Nothing's wrong' gentlemen. Just an argument that was about to get out of hand, nothing more. Our friend managed to calm it down before things got worse." Ghira told them. The guards seemed unsure, but they nonetheless bowed and left the room. Ghira let out an audible sigh as everyone also took a seat on the couches.

"I'm going to need something strong to drink after this…" Ghira muttered tiredly before turning his gaze to Gula.

"So, why did you come to Menagerie. I don't imagine someone like you does social calls." The imposing faunus inquired. Gula shrugged.

"I was here on other business and was about to leave when I found out that Blake was on the island and since it was still a mystery as to where she'd gone after the Fall of Beacon, I decided to check in and possibly have a few words." Gula replied before turning an eye to Blake, who glanced down at the floor.

"If you were going to chew me out for disappearing, I already had _that_ conversation Sun and my parents. I know what I'm going to do now." Blake told him. Gula raised an eyebrow and glanced around at Wukong and the elder Belladonnas, who all more or less communicated that this was true.

"Alright then. So, what _are_ you going to do? Also, why were you freaking out about Ruby and three out of four JNPR members heading to Haven?" Gula inquired, which suddenly had the elder Belladonnas freaking out as well.

"They can't go there! They'll get caught in the crossfire!" Kali exclaimed. Gula sat up a bit straighter and leaned forward.

"Things are about to get stupid again, aren't they…" He muttered as he waited for an explanation.

"We've obtained confirmation that a high-ranking member of the White Fang named Adam Taurus intends to assassinate Sienna Khan, the current leader of the White Fang, and take her place. He'll then lead the White Fang against Haven and destroy it." Ghira growled angrily. Gula groaned.

"Of course… I should have known it was too quiet… Alright then!" Gula muttered before clapping his hands together.

"Where's Sienna Khan now? I go there and blow up Taurus and whoever else is helping him, White Fang doesn't attack, problem solved!" Gula proposed, only for everyone to start emphatically saying no, much to Gula's annoyance.

"We can't just kill him and his followers! For one, that sort of senseless violence is how we got into this mess to begin with. Second, if we outright kill Taurus, it will only make a martyr of him." Ghira argued. Gula rolled his eyes and slumped forward a bit.

"Fine then, how about this? I fly there, I grab Khan and bring her somewhere and explain the situation. That leaves the White Fang without a leader, no one dies, Khan and you all can do sort out Taurus and I can get back to Grassbed to explain why I'm going to be away for a while and hopefully avert another disaster! Does that about cover it all?" Gula suggested. Wukong and the Belladonna clan looked back and forth between each other, considering the idea but also clearly unsure.

"You think you can make it in time?" Blake asked. Gula smirked.

"I can reach supersonic speed easy. They're based in Mistral, right? Just give me a general area to look in and my speed and senses will take care of the rest." Gula replied.

"And you'll do so without killing anyone?" Ghira pushed. Gula nodded, though he looked a little unhappy about it.

"There might be a bit of scuffing, but no one dies." Gula promised.

"Define 'scuffing'." Kali pressed.

"They won't be crippled if that's your worry. I won't be launching attacks at them, but I'm not making promises when I break in. Again though, no one dies." Gula assured everyone. They still looked apprehensive, but they eventually agreed.

"Give us a moment to prepare a message and proof for Sienna so that she has more than your word to go on. It shouldn't take too long." Ghira told Gula before he got to his feet to leave. Gula also rose to his feet and stretched.

"Alright, I can wait. Besides, I think I'll be otherwise occupied with interrogating the eavesdropper." Gula told them before his energy suddenly burst forth and he rocketed out of the room with a violent gust of wind!

"Eavesdropper?" Sun asked before Gula suddenly rocketed back into the room, holding someone by the scruff of a stealth suit of some kind. Blake immediately went from alarmed to horrified, then to dismay.

"Alright then Miss, if you can explain what exactly you thought you were doing out there with a listening device pressed to this wall and your ear, this won't get ugly." Gula said amicably as he pinned her to the wall. The person pinned, a girl with a ponytail who was undergoing rapid color changes (likely in a fear response) just looked at him with a terrified expression.

"Gula, for the love of all that is holy, _don't kill her!"_ Blake pleaded as she looked at the captive. Gula just rolled his eyes.

"Please, I know my own strength. Besides, I wouldn't kill her _now._ She hasn't told us _everything_ she's heard since she started listening in." Gula placated before returning his steely glare back to the girl, who had relaxed up until he said 'yet' and was now back to looking terrified.

"And we better make it snappy, since apparently my schedule now includes foiling assassinations and preventing The Fall of Haven on top of _every other stupid thing I have to deal with in my life."_ Gula stated, snarling at the end.

At this point, Gula was reaching the limit of his patience for the general idiocy that was being haphazardly lobbed into his life. He had PTO invasions to stop, students to train, a Saiyan on the loose that was particularly after his guts, an immortal witch that was seemingly out to destroy Remnant to research, and now apparently he had political assassinations to foil. This was just the latest dumb thing he had to deal with. All he could do was hope and pray that more dumb stuff wouldn't be thrown into his life.

Oh, if only the poor bastard knew…

* * *

 **And that's where we're ending it for today! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!**

 **Creativity: WE DID IT! LONGEST CHAPTER TO DATE!**

 **Author: AND IT BROKE THE 10K WORD THRESHOLD!**

 **Alright, enough backpatting. It's real late as I'm writing these closing notes, so I'm going to keep this quick. This was a fun chapter to write and if it's the last one for a while, I'm glad I get to break on this one. I got to bring two characters back that I'm looking forward to using more, I got to set events in motion that I've been envisioning for a while, and I breached the 10K word count for a single chapter.**

 **But now, it's time for me to sign off for now. Please review, hope to see you on Discord, and a HUGE thanks for 100K reads. Here's to 100K more!**


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